The city without sound
by kisshufan4ever
Summary: After the Daphne arc, Gray is still acting weirdly and his behaviour seems to correspond with Midnight who is currently locked in prison. After Gray breaks Midnight out and the two mages embark on a quest that they don't even understand, Cobra is forced join up with Team Natsu to track down their errant friends and solve a prophecy that ties two seemingly unconnected mages together
1. Chapter 1

So me (Mewsugarpudd) and Kisshufan4ever are finally back in business and hopefully we have matured in our writing. And yes, this story will be yaoi and also slightly AU. everything up to the Daphne arc is pretty much canon, but Gray and Midnight's pasts will be altered slightly.

* * *

"The city without sound." Gray's words had echoed around the halls, confusing Natsu. Even now, the guild hadn't truly discerned the true reason for Gray's "betrayal". Sure, he had spouted a load of crap about Ul, but anyone who knew anything about Gray Fullbuster understood that he would never say that Natsu could surpass him.

Said ice mage was currently sitting in an unused storage room that was currently serving as his jail cell.

"The city without sound." He muttered under his breath, as he rose slowly, mist rising around his legs as his magic activated subconsciously. He created no noise that would alert Alzack (his guard) to his movements.

The magic circle that accompanied his ice magic appeared, and a thin layer of frost crept over the wall. It shattered into a million tiny shards of ice, and Gray stepped through the crystal shower, his eyes a pale grey.

"I must retrieve the other." His voice was low, and he strode away from his guild, pace increasing as some unseen signal was broadcast into his head.

Usually, one of the guild's three resident dragon slayers would have picked up on Gray's escape, but Gajeel was out looking for a cat (an obsession that honestly terrified everyone), and Wendy was at home resting from healing everyone. Natsu had been forced into Lucy's apartment after threatening to beat the truth from Gray one too many times. Sure, Gray was a possible traitor, but no one in the guild was cruel enough to sic Natsu onto him. Juvia had been dragged away by Gajeel to help in his quest for a kitty after she had flooded the building due to her Gray sama's "wrongful imprisonment".

In fact, Gray's absence wasn't noticed until he was well out of the city's limits. The howl of an enraged, pink haired dragon slayer was audible even on the train. The dark haired ice mage smirked darkly.

"It's too late to stop us."

Another dark haired mage was also exhibiting some strange behaviour patterns. His guild mate watched with a hint of worry in his purple eyes.

"Midnight, what the hell are you droning on about?" The irritable poison dragon slayer barked, the undercurrent of concern going unnoticed.

"The city without sound." Midnight mumbled, in a way that was eerily reminiscent to Gray. Of course, Cobra didn't know this. He observed his friend and tried to focus on his thoughts. He wasn't able to fully able to access his combat capability, but as this part of his magic was vaguely passive, the walls didn't block it as well. Especially as the origin of Cobra's magic was from a lacrima.

He flinched in horror as he realised that all he could hear was static. It wasn't that Midnight wasn't thinking, Cobra just couldn't tap into the thoughts with his usual ease. The only thing that he could make out was the repeated phrase "The city without sound".

Cobra didn't know what this city was, but a place without sound was a pretty terrifying thought for someone who was used to hearing _everything_.

Team Natsu had boarded the next train that was heading in the direction that Natsu's nose had pointed to. At this point of the journey, Natsu should have been slumped over pathetically, but as retrieving Gray was of utmost importance, Wendy had used Troia to relieve him of his travel sickness symptoms. The serious look on his face was actually quite intimidating as he focused on the familiar scent of his friend.

He didn't know why Gray had pretended to betray the guild, and where the hell he was going, but Natsu was not returning to Magnolia without him. Whether he had to carry him back, bloody and beaten, Gray was coming home. The resolve in his eyes was mirrored in the faces of his team mates. Even Happy's fists were clenched with determination. Natsu would never let one of his nakama leave like this. Especially not his droopy eyed, ice block, pervert rival. Especially not his closest friend.

Unaware of his friend's silent promise, Gray was still sitting in his train carriage, alone. It seemed that his sub-zero aura had frightened off any other commuter.

His thoughts were pretty much centred around finding this "other", though even he didn't know who exactly this was. Memories of his destroyed village swirled around his mind, and as this mixed with the strange signal, he was developing a migraine. He was aware of everything that was happening, and even as one side of him screamed that this was wrong and that he should go take his punishment like a man (why did he team up with Daphne again?), while the other half yelled that there was something more important going on than his petty squabble with the guild. After all, they had accepted actual enemies into their midst with open arms, surely they would forgive him. And his work with Daphne had been important, hadn't it?

A frown graced his handsome features as he tried to recall why he had been helping the crazy dragon lady. But the magic call in his head was stronger than his doubts, and he once again focussed on the task at hand.

Likewise, Midnight was concentrating on the tug in his head that was telling him quite insistently that the other was coming to break him out. To be honest, Midnight would rather sleep, but there was something... compelling about this magic that he couldn't resist. It spoke of ancient times, of a magic beyond any other.

He could faintly hear Cobra inquiring about what he was saying, but the message in his head was too important to ignore. He and the other had a purpose, a duty to people long gone that held more sway over the helpless mage that was stronger than any earthly bond. He wanted to reassure his friend, or at the very least tell him to quieten down so that Midnight could concentrate on what him and the other needed to do, but he restrained himself. He needed to stop acting suspicious or a guard would take action against him. If that happened, then the other might not be able to break him out. That would be catastrophic.

Though he was unaware of this, his crimson eyes had dulled to a faint reddish colour as the magic set in. Cobra, the only other Oracion Seis member close enough to see him, had recognised the colour shift and he felt a tendril of unease moving through his system. Midnight's eyes had always been either a startling shade of red or closed completely, never this pale, pathetic shade. He was almost worried enough to call out to the guard, but he didn't think Midnight would appreciate it and the guard definitely wouldn't appreciate the communication with a "lowly criminal".

The eye thing was seriously creeping him out when compounded with the freaky static in the reflector mage's head. Cobra didn't understand exactly what was going on, but he got the sense that this unusual event was part of a larger story, one piece in a gigantic puzzle. Cobra frowned as he suddenly heard one thought loud and clear, without any interference. The frown deepened as he realised that the thought was not coming from his friend who he had been trying to listen to, but from an outside source. A familiar mental voice came from outside the prison.

"The city without sound will rise when the other comes with me." The reply came from Midnight, spoken out loud this time.

"Together we will forge a bond to fulfil our destiny."

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So here it is, our latest story. We hope that you enjoyed it and we'll see you next time :)


	2. Chapter 2

Hello everyone and happy Easter from me (Mewsugarpudd) and Kisshufan4ever! Thank you to everyone who faved/followed, this story is doing a lot better than we had hoped.

Guest : Thanks for being our first reviewer.

Guest : Yes it will be ;)

IcePrinceRay : We only thought of it because Mew's favourite character is Gray while Kisshu likes Midnight.

.oO : Thanks.

Sktrgrl13 : Is this soon enough? And they'll make a hilarious team. (Gratsu and Midco are great pairings).

Dragonlover89 : We think that this is the only one, and Kisshu stalks the archive enough to know.

Guest : Is this soon enough for you?

Disclaimer : we don't own fairy tail. Sadly.

* * *

Cobra was really freaking out when the door to their detainment centre froze and then was kicked in. a dark haired teen stepped through, and Cobra recognised him as one of the Fairies who had put an end to their Nirvana plan.

He calmly strode through the gaping doorframe, calmly wiping out the guard with no visible effort.

Midnight rose from his sitting position, dusting of his pants with a regal air.

"It is time." His friend's voice was devoid of all emotion, and the dark haired teen (Cobra was sure that his name was sort of colour, maybe Green or something) nodded.

"It is indeed." His hands glowed and the bars were coated in ice. Midnight round-housed them and then joined his companion. Cobra watched in disbelief as his best friend left the prison with barely a glance behind at his still incarcerated friend. Cobra would have been angry but he still couldn't get a lock on Midnight's thoughts. The situation was clearly more serious then he thought.

Natsu was fuming. He knew that something was wrong with Gray but he was still itching to beat some sense into his rival. What the hell was he playing at, running away form Fairy Tail after that whole Daphne stunt?

The train stopped at the station closest to the prison, and Natsu's eyes widened.

"Get off here!" He roared, lunging for the train doors. The other's followed, and as soon as they had all departed from the train, Natsu was racing towards the magical detainment facility where the scent of Gray was the strongest. Natsu had no clue on why his friend would be headed there, but he would get his answers soon whether they were pounded out of Gray or not.

"Where are we going?" Lucy was panting, even as Erza caught on to their direction.

"Why would Gray be going to the prison?" Her question was clearly rhetorical, and that was good as no one knew why. Lucy squeaked "Prison!" but Natsu ignored her in favour of running faster.

They reached the prison in a matter of seconds and it was clearly in a state of chaos. Guards were racing around and Natsu collared one.

"What happened?" The Guard looked terrified.

"One of our most dangerous prisoners was broken out by a currently unknown mage. We suspect that he had some sort of elemental magic, but no remnant remained, the guards were knocked out to quickly to discern it and the only other prisoner in the area refuses to divulge any facts about the breakout." Natsu raised his hand to show of his mark.

"We're from Fairy Tail and we are willing to help." Erza spoke from behind Natsu, and the Guard cowered.

"Ah, of course Miss Titania. It is quite fortunate that you mages are here to help actually.

"Take us to the prisoner." The red headed mage ordered, and the Guard wasn't stupid enough to risk the wrath of Erza Scarlet. Natsu sniffed cautiously, and with a shock he realised that he recognised more than one scent.

"Was the prisoner who escaped a member of Oracion Seis?" Lucy gave him a confused look, and he tapped his nose. The Guard also seemed surprised.

"Well yes actually, his codename was Midnight. Codename Cobra was the witness, but he is stubbornly refusing to answer any of our questions." Natsu smirked, revealing one of his fangs. He hoped that he would be able to spar with the poison dragon slayer if he refused to give them the answers they needed.

Cobra was getting annoyed at all these idiots who honestly expected him to tell them about how his friend had escaped. Yeah, it rankled that Midnight hadn't taken him as well, but something was wrong with the other mage and even so, Cobra would never give him up.

He looked up in boredom as the door was once again flung open. All of his magic had been cut off and so he couldn't hear/smell who was going to enter his cell. That's why he jumped when a familiar pink head popped through his door with an obnoxious grin plastered on his face.

"Yo, Cobra. How have you been." Cobra raised his eyebrow as the moron greeted him like an old friend instead of an old enemy.

"I've been imprisoned you idiot." His companions stepped in as well, the freaky talking cat, the blonde girl and the Titania.

"You are going to tell us everything that happened." Erza was glaring at him, but Cobra had dealt with grumpy morning Midnight. Erza had nothing on that.

"I won't tell you anything unless you promise to take me with you." The trio (and the cat) glared at them.

"How can we trust you to not turn on us as soon as we leave this prison?" The blonde (Lucky was it?) appraised him.

"Because I want to help Midnight. Surely you noticed something wrong with your ice boy? Well, the same thing is affecting Midnight. I'll tell you everything if you promise I can help you." The Fairies seemed to be judging his sincerity.

"You do know that we'll probably have to bring you both back here after we track them down." Cobra nodded, better to have Midnight imprisoned and sane then on the run and losing it. Plus, the Fairy Tail mages seemed pretty fair, it was probably safe to trust them in tracking down his friend.

After a few minutes of being scrutinised, Erza nodded shortly.

"I'll see what we can do." She stated simply, before she turned and dragged her blonde haired companion and the cat away. Natsu remained, eyeing him up.

"Was Gray okay?" Cobra knew that he had said that he wouldn't reveal any details without an assurance that he could leave with them, but the naked concern on the other mage's face touched him. He knew that if the situation was reversed, he would be desperate to know Midnight's status.

"I don't know, whatever is affecting them is strong." The fire dragon slayer winced.

"Gray's stronger." He declared, and Cobra couldn't help feeling a little confused. Hadn't the two been rivals? He shook his head, he wasn't here to discern the relationship between the ice and fire mages, he wanted to find his friend.

They remained in an oddly comfortable silence until Erza returned.

"We have permission to take Cobra with us as a witness, but put one foot out of line and we have permission to drag you back here." Cobra smirked, and placed his shackles out to be removed from his arms. Time to track down his friend and the ice mage.

Said mages were currently sitting side by side on the train to Isvan. They were completely alone in their compartment, Gray had seen to that by lowering the temperature so that the areas around them were room temperature but the rest of the compartment was freezing.

"We will fulfil our mission." Gray looked out of the wind as he approached his homeland. He didn't understand why Midnight had been chosen for a quest to Isvan by this strange power, but Gray wasn't exactly in a position to question it's motives. He was heading home, and for better or for worse, Midnight was coming with him.

The two sat on the train, heading towards their destiny.

Beneath the ruins of a snowy city, a creature smiled.

"So they are coming after all. Fools." It's distorted laughter rang around the icy cavern.

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Hope you enjoyed the chapter, and feel free to leave us a review :)


	3. Chapter 3

Hello and welcome to another instalment of city without sound. Thank you to everyone who faved or followed.

IcePrinceRay : We stopped there because we are mean :) And yes, the voice is creepy.

Dragonlover89 : Thank you, we are really excited for this quest.

Midcofan : We hope that this is soon enough.

Phineashiccup : We're glad that you love it.

Disclaimer : Sadly, neither of us own Fairy Tail.

* * *

Gray and Midnight stepped off the train, and stood together in the snowy land of Isvan. Their journey had just truly begun.

"You know that they will come after us." It was clear in the minds of both teens who exactly Gray was referring to.

"They can come, but we must fulfil our purpose." Midnight turned and walked out of the train station. His companion followed. They had quite a while to travel on foot still before they reached their destination, the city without sound had laid desolate for years, the area surrounding it also robbed of life. No train would travel to the area of the demon's wreckage. And usually there would be no need for it. Usually. Gray and Midnight's quest wasn't exactly what you would call "usual"- especially as neither of them knew exactly what it consisted of.

It took a few hours before there pursuers also reached the land. Natsu sniffed the air trying to get a lock on the scent of their friends. Cobra was also trying to get the scent.

"Ugh, why is it so hard to pinpoint their scents?" Natsu complained.

"Maybe because this whole stupid place smells like snow, or maybe because your senses are still screwed up from being pathetically travel sick." Cobra sniped, as he frantically sniffed the air. He ignored Natsu's annoyed spluttering, even with the snow, it shouldn't be this hard to pick up the scent of the person he was closest to. Was something masking their scent...?

"There!" Natsu exclaimed, apparently he had caught the scent of his ice mage friend despite acting like moaning at Cobra had taken precedence. Cobra was grudgingly impressed, he had only just sniffed out their scent, and somehow Natsu had located Gray's trail even though a majority of his scent was made up of the snowy odour that dominated this country.

The mages started following after Natsu. They hoped their friends weren't too far away as Lucy was already bitterly complaining about the cold. Unfortunately that didn't seem the case as they had been walking for over an hour and there was still no sign of the run away duo.

Every one was feeling frustrated now and tensions were high in the group.

"Are we there yet?" Happy moaned shivering slightly.

"Can you see them anywhere?" Cobra snapped.

"Oi don't blame Happy" Natsu roared, flame's spewing from his mouth.

"Maybe he shouldn't whine so damn much" Cobra snarled back.

"You wanna go, fang face" Natsu taunted.

"You have fangs to you hypocrite" Cobra

yelled in disbelief at the other boy's stupidity. Both boys were brought out of the ensuing fight by an angry red headed demon smacking them over the head with armour encased hands.

"While you two are fighting the trail's getting cold" Erza glared demonically and Natsu's gaze turned serious.

"You're right" Natsu muttered before he walked away.

"The trail continues over here" He beckoned. Everyone stared at his departing figure in shock.

"Natsu just backed away from a fight, willingly!" Lucy exclaimed.

"That's because Natsu is really worried about Gray, even if he doesn't show it, Natsu is really close to Gray." Happy caught up with Natsu after imparting these words of wisdom. The other mages glanced at each other, and nodded. If Natsu was taking this mission with such resolve then they would also find the same conviction within themselves.

Cobra watched the pink haired fire dragon slayer with a new understanding. It looked like his relationship with the ice mage had been more complicated than Cobra had realised. This could be interesting.

Midnight smirked.

"Should we make camp here?" He turned to the ice mage, who grinned.

"They could catch up to us." He replied. Midnight nodded.

"That's the point. If they catch up to us here, I can teleport us further away. They will hopefully realise the futility in stopping us, and we will lose our tail." Gray admired the deviousness of his companion's plan, but he wasn't certain of the plan's outcome being in their favour.

"Natsu will not be deterred. And is it worth sapping your still recovering magic on such a risky scenario?" Midnight contemplated the other mage's queries.

"We will have to make camp sometime."

"We will. But we need to find the most favourable situation. We cannot fail." Midnight nodded at Gray's logic.

"Time to make a new plan." The boys debated the merits of a couple of different plans, before they settled on the one that they thought had the most benefits.

Natsu and the merry band of misfits were unaware of the plan being set in motion. And they were still trekking through the snow following their faint trail.

Cobra felt the barest hint of a blush stain his cheeks as he thought about the dedication that Natsu was showing to finding Gray. He felt a similar desire burning in his stomach - the desire to bring his closest friend back safely.

He had never felt for anyone so strongly as he did for Midnight. They had been through so much together, and Cobra liked to think that they had a bond that transcended the bonds forged between the rest of the Seis. Sure, he had gotten along with the others, and he considered them all friends (except for Brain, the backstabbing bastard), but there was something about Midnight that made Cobra feel... protective. He knew that Midnight could defend himself, but he still didn't like the thought of the shorter mage being hurt.

Natsu was having a similar line of thought. He and Gray were rivals, and they beat the crap out of each other on a daily basis, but the relationship between the two was unique. They were both too proud to openly declare the fact that they were fond of each other.

He could still remember the times that they had broken character and actually shown the friendship side of their relationship. When they had been battling against Erigor and Gray had told him not to die. The moment when he had felt Gray crying on his back after the fight with Lyon. Gray saving him from that stupid owl thing. And more recently, the horrifying moment when he though that he had broken Gray, even though it had just been a trick to trap him for that bitch Daphne. Gray was going to explain what exactly he had been playing at. After Natsu punched some sense into him, of course.

Midnight and Gray sneezed in sync.

"The idiots must be thinking of us" Gray murmured fondly. Midnight gave him a warning glance.

"We can't be too attached remember. If we don't make it out alive, it will be harder for them to move on." Gray sighed.

"Daphne ensured that most of Fairy Tail will be able to move on when I die."

"If" Midnight corrected. Gray gave him a sad look.

"When" He whispered. The other mage apparently didn't hear him.

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We hope that you enjoyed the latest chapter, and the yaoi is slowly coming into play. See you next time (sorry for the sort of cliffhanger).


	4. Chapter 4

Hello again. The plot has started to kick off :) and Gray and Midnight don't sound too positive about the outcome of their quest.

Dragonlover89 : Gray is Mewsugarpudd's favourite as well, but we can't give any guarantee ;)

Otakulover4evr : Glad you like it.

AsDarknessSpreads : We know that in canon he didn't hear him, but personally we believe that as a dragon slayer Natsu probably did hear him and chose not to reply due to pride issues.

IcePrinceRay : Of course we don't want you to break down (or do we? Muahahahaha). We're glad that you enjoyed it.

Disclaimer : If we owned Fairy Tail, everything would be about Gray and Midnight.

* * *

Gray dodged a punch from Midnight with a grunt and a grin.

"You're improving but..." Gray grabbed Midnight's arm and forced him to the ground. They had come to a joint decision that Midnight needed to work on his hand to hand fighting if they were going to have a hope in hell of completing this quest.

"Don't overextend your arm when throwing a punch, otherwise you can be thrown of balance easily." Midnight nodded, and Gray helped him up.

"Okay, I think we're done for today." The two boys stretched out their sore muscles, and observed the clearing that they had claimed as their "training arena". Gray had been teaching Midnight how to fight without magic, and working with Midnight was helping Gray with his tactical thinking for fighting against someone who could create illusions and repel magic. Remnants of Gray's ice were scattered around the area, along with his discarded shirt. His necklace seemed to glow against his pale skin.

Satisfaction was obvious on Midnight's face. He had improved in the short time that they had spent in the clearing, and his magic reserves were strengthening as well. He was pretty certain that his power to teleport was fully functioning in case of emergency.

Cobra tried to stifle the sound of his travelling companions and zero in on Midnight's thoughts. However, he couldn't hear anything from the reflector mage, whether this was because he was too far away or because Cobra's powers were still recovering from his time in prison he was unsure.

The thoughts of the Fairy Tail mages occasionally flitted into his head, despite his best efforts to keep them out. His control was usually stronger than this, but having been mostly deprived of his powers, his control had depleted slightly.

The fire dragon slayer's thoughts were the most audible, and the most concerning. Natsu couldn't seem to decide on whether he was going to knock the ice mage out and drag him back to Fairy Tail or if he was going to crush the ice mage in a gigantic bear hug and refuse to let him go until he had explained everything.

Cobra felt sympathy for his fellow dragon slayer, after all, he was still trying to decide on how he was going to convince Midnight to come back to the prison with him. Cobra didn't exactly relish the thought of being imprisoned again, but at least in prison Midnight was pretty safe. And Cobra could pretty much guarantee that whatever was going on with his friend was not helping his safety.

Cobra stiffened slightly as a family scent drifted into his nostrils. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Natsu also stiffen, a small, wicked grin dancing across his face.

"Got you." The other mage muttered, before he darted away, Cobra hot on his heels. He could hear exclamations of surprise and annoyance from he other Fairies, but Midnight was close so he didn't care to much about their whining. He was here to locate Midnight, not make friends, even if he had been finding disturbing similarities between himself and the other dragon slayer if Natsu's thoughts were anything to go by.

The dragon slayers burst into a clearing, panting from the extra exertion of sprinting. There, on the other side of the clearing, were Midnight and Gray. Cobra had a brief intake of breath at the sight of his friend, especially as their were signs of the ice mage's magic surrounding them. Had they been fighting each other or had they been attacked? Both options made Cobra's skin crawl with irritation, a feeling that increased as he still couldn't get a lock on either of the rogue mages' thoughts.

All thought processes ground to a halt when the mages turned to face their pursuers.

"You need to stop this foolish pursuit." Gray said sternly, though a brief look of sadness graced his otherwise apathetic face.

"Before it's too late." Cobra's head snapped round to look at Midnight in shock, was that a warning or a threat? Or was it a silent plead that Cobra not get further caught up in this mess that Midnight was embroiled in?

Before Cobra could utter a single word, Midnight grabbed Gray's arm. Both of them mouthed "I'm sorry", and Cobra lunged forwards desperately as he caught on to what Midnight was about to do. Natsu, either picking up on Cobra's sudden fear or just being able to hold himself back any longer, also pounced, but they were too late. Their friends disappeared in a ripple of magic. They had missed their opportunity to catch them.

Cobra's fist clenched in rage. He was startled when Natsu dropped on the ground and practically howled in frustration, his thoughts echoing the message "I let him get away" repeatedly.

Cobra felt a little awkward at the fire mage's breakdown. He didn't know how to comfort someone! The only person that he had ever been able to comfort was Midnight, and Midnight was currently gallivanting around Isvan with a stripper ice mage and eerily static thoughts.

"I'm sorry." He mumbled, and Natsu's misty (not that the other mage would ever admit it) eyes looked at him with a trace of confusion.

"Why?" Cobra felt a twinge of shame, he called himself Midnight's best friend, yet he had forgotten the other boy's ability to teleport.

"I forgot that he could teleport..." Cobra trailed of and shifted uncomfortably at the intense look in Natsu's eyes.

"And I didn't sit on Gray while I had the chance. But we will find them again, and when we do, I can sit on them and we can take turns in pounding some sense into them." Cobra was amazed as Natsu stood up and visibly collected himself in time for the other mages to enter the clearing.

"They got away." He grumbled, and Cobra was once again amazed at the pang that passed through his heart at the sad thoughts coming from the Fairies. Why should he care that they were all sad about the missing ice mage, even if he had never seen such concern shown between guild mates before? Sure, the Oracion Seis had all cared for each other, but they had all been united by Brain, and after the guild had been disbanded and they were taken to prison, most of the Seis had focused on how to achieve their own, personal goals. Only he and Midnight had seemed to stick together.

Yet these Fairy Tail mages seemed to be connected by a bond stronger then the bond formed between people who simply worked together. Their bonds were what Cobra assumed a family's would be. Except for Natsu and Gray, whose bond seemed similar to that shared by Cobra and Midnight.

Natsu was mentally chastising himself for letting Gray slip away. If he had moved just a bit quicker, then Gray would be safe with their team, with _Natsu. _He swallowed another growl, and stalked around the clearing, searching for hints of where the two mages were heading.

A sliver of black caught his eye, and Natsu picked up a black article of clothing.

"Tch." He couldn't help snickering slightly. If the frosty bastard was still stripping, then whatever was going on hadn't messed him up to much. He buried his nose in the fabric, as if trying to summon Gray through pure force of will. He inhaled the ice block's scent, refreshing his memory of the distinct scent of his closest friend.

Suddenly, a blurry shape appeared in front of him. He almost had a heart attack as he scrambled back to stand beside Cobra, Gray's T-shirt still clutched in his hand.

"You must go to the City with out sound if you wish to save those who are important to you." A distinctly female voice told them.

"Who are you? And where is the City without sound?" The woman chuckled.

"Who I am is unimportant, and you will find directions for the City without sound in the nearest village. Continue north from this point and you will find a village that can give you directions." The figure disappeared before she could provide any more information, and Natsu fumed as the third person today disappeared with practically no trace of their existence left behind.

His fingers tightened around the piece of material in his hand that linked him to his wayward friend.

Gray looked down at his bare chest in disappointment as his friend recovered from the use of magic. Apparently he had left his shirt behind. A wave of sadness swept through him, as he realised that Natsu was probably going to keep his shirt as a sign to continue chasing after them. And they had hoped that they would lose them after teleporting away.

"Why was Cobra with them?" Midnight choked out, a strange look of fear and regret on his usually, pretty impassive face.

"I don't know." Gray was also a little put of by the appearance of the second dragon slayer. It would make it that much harder for Midnight to make the ultimate sacrifice if he knew that Cobra had teamed up with Gray's friend to track them down. Two stubborn dragon slayers would be much harder to shake then just Natsu.

"We'll deal with it." Gray silently apologised as Natsu's face haunted his mind. He had to let go of his bond with Natsu. He couldn't drag the other mage down with him, it was bad enough that Midnight would have to share his fate.

* * *

So Gray still seems convinced that the quest will end badly. And who was the woman speaking to the others? We'll see you next time.


	5. Chapter 5

Hello again everyone :) Thank you for all of the faves/follows.

IcePrinceRay : So close but yet so far. And all will be revealed about that woman eventually.

Phineashiccup : Thank you.

.oO : Gray definitely is not optimistic at the moment.

Guest : You're welcome, and you will learn more about the woman later on.

Disclaimer : Yep, we still don't own Fairy Tail.

* * *

Lucy's feet were killing her. But all the walking was worth it if they finally got some information about where Gray and Midnight were going.

She wasn't too certain that they should be trusting a random woman who just appears and disappears, but something about the woman had seemed... familiar. Lucy wracked her brain for reasons why she would know an unusual Isvan lady, but nothing came to mind.

They had finally reached the village, and Lucy was kind of worried that Cobra and Natsu were going to raze the village in an attempt to get answers. Natsu was always pretty reckless, but the aura of determination that he had right now was scarier then Lucy had ever seen him.

Plus, Cobra wasn't exactly looking to be in a tolerant mood. The close call in the clearing had really dampened the mood, she knew that both of the boys were beating themselves up about it.

Although she wouldn't call herself close to Cobra, even she felt sympathy for the downtrodden mage. After all, his friend was as deeply involved with this mess as Gray was.

The group made their way to what appeared to be the small, local guild at Erza's command. Hopefully their fellow mages would be willing to provide directions.

Luckily, not even Isvan mages were willing to disobey Titania, and had offered them hospitality while listening to their plea.

"We need someone to direct us to the City without sound." All noise ceased at Erza's demand.

"The cursed city." One mage choked.

"The demon's playground."

"You'd have to be insane..." Lucy shivered as Erza's glare intensified.

"What is so crazy about needing to get to the city?" Nervous titters filled the guild.

"The city was destroyed by a rampaging demon ten years ago. All but one child were destroyed." The guild master informed them. Lucy felt a sick sense of understanding. The temperature rose, indicating that Natsu had also caught on to the implication. Cobra stiffened (Lucy knew that he could hear thoughts, maybe he could hear what was wrong), and Erza also tensed up.

"Was the demon named Deliora by any chance." Erza's words were spoken quietly, but the feeling within them resounded. The guild master nodded.

"Then it's even more urgent that we get to the city."

Natsu's eyes blazed.

"A dark air hangs over the ruins of the village. All are weary to tread upon the accursed land. It has been bathed in the blood of innocents. Evil lingers there."

"But we must go!" Lucy wasn't going to leave Gray to face this without Fairy Tail support.

"We need to reach the city." Cobra's voice was heavy, and the guild master seemed to deflate, any protest dying at the vehemence coming from the teens.

"My guild will provide directions, but we will not be blamed for the consequences of visiting the site of the tragedy." Erza expressed their gratitude, and one of the mage handed them a map with their destination highlighted.

"Good luck." The mage whispered, before darting back to her friends.

They departed, holding the map that would lead to their friends. And would also lead to the city of Gray's past.

Midnight felt drained, the teleportation had taken up a lot of his still recovering magic. Gray was out gathering supplies and Midnight was contemplating the conversation from earlier and the quest in general.

He had a vague idea of where this quest was taking them but he had no idea why he was a part of it. After all, he barely knew Gray, the only time they had met was on Nirvana as enemies.

Yet he still felt an unmistakeable sense of comradeship with the ice mage, though it was no where near the level of trust between him and Cobra.

At that moment the ice mage made an appearance carrying their supplies.

"What did you find?" Gray sent him a smirk.

"A whole ton of water." Midnight resisted the urge to roll his eyes, Gray had the same maturity level as Cobra.

"I got us some food, not enough to last us till we reach the city, but we can always stock up again later." Midnight caught the pack that was thrown his way.

"Do you know why I'm even part of this?" Midnight inquired.

"No. But there must be a pretty important reason." Midnight glowered.

"What gave that away?" Now it was Gray's turn to glare.

"I don't honestly know what I'm doing either. Sure we're heading towards my old home, but I was the only survivor. I don't understand what is pulling us there. I just know that it's strong." Midnight folded his legs.

"And now we have two dragon slayers after us, as well as those girls and that cat from your guild." Gray didn't even bother informing him about the names of his team mates, and Midnight was again reminded of their earlier conversation.

"Do you really believe that your friends will ever give up on bringing you back?" Gray hung his head.

"Natsu... and some others probably won't give in so easily. Most of the rest have already given up." Gray's eyes were haunted, and Midnight was curious as to why a member of the Fairy Tail guild, who had literally won against Oracion Seis through the power of friendship, was doubting that his guild mates would wish for anything but his safe return.

"Why?" Gray looked up at him sadly.

"There was this woman, Daphne. She was building a fake dragon. I found my self embroiled in her schemes, and to pull them off, I needed to appear as a traitor to Fairy Tail. Everyone except Natsu and Juvia - who is creepily obsessed with me - believed that I had turned against them pretty much instantaneously." The temperature was dropping, and Midnight recognised the slightly glazed over look to Gray's eyes. He had seen it often when he had been trapped in the Tower. Often, it had been his eyes that were on the verge of crying.

"Why did you help her out?" Gray's fists clenched tightly, and Midnight regretted the question as the temperature plummeted.

"I... I don't know. I told some bull story to the Master about Natsu being capable of surpassing even Ul, but I really don't know. It was kind of like this quest, I was being forced to do it." Midnight felt a twinge of sympathy.

"Maybe it was to separate you from your friends. After all, everyone I care about are locked up, and Cobra being released was unforeseen." Gray gave him another shiny-eyed glance.

"I suppose. I just never would have thought that something like that would work. That they would question my loyalty. I've been with them since I was a kid! Longer than Natsu, and yet they doubted me instantly. Natsu may be my comrade, my team mate, but when he's around, everyone seems to forget all that I have accomplished with them. I fade to the background." Gray's voice decreased in volume until it reached a barely audible grunt on the last line.

Midnight was shocked at the level of trust being shown by his companion. He knew that they had a bond due to this quest, but this was more like brotherhood than a simple bond of companionship. Maybe it would be beneficial for both of them to come clean in this situation.

"It was never like that for me." Gray's head snapped up, and Midnight gathered the courage to continue with his monologue.

"My father, Brain, he always said that I was the strongest. That I was the last hope for him, for the guild. If I was awakened, the situation was serious. But that meant that I never really had a chance to talk with my team mates. Sure, they never openly claimed to dislike me, but I know that they all feared my power. Only Cobra ever seemed to break through that fear." Gray gave him a wry smile.

"It's kind of ironic. I'm overlooked and you're relied on so much that you have been virtually isolated from your friends."

"All except Cobra..." Midnight murmured.

"And Natsu is one of the only ones to never truly put himself above me. Sure, we're rivals, but he knows that we are roughly equal."

"The ones who don't doubt us." Midnight stared at the mage, who was becoming his friend against all odds.

"The ones who are following us to the desolation of my past." Gray shook his head, and Midnight noticed with some relief that his eyes seemed calmer.

"We should eat." The two mages settled in to share a meal on the road to the City without sound.

Erza wanted to find Gray, her first friend at Fairy Tail, but she had to bow to the reality of the situation. They needed to rest, and the guild had offered them shelter before their mission. Apparently they had decided to give them a comfortable place to stay before they headed to Gray's old city.

"NO WAY!" Natsu was yelling and ranting along with Cobra.

"We can't just stay here while they're getting further and further away." Cobra glared at her passionately. Even Lucy was looking unsure, but Erza knew that the blonde needed rest more then the rest of them. She had the least stamina. Happy was also feeling the effects of flying almost non stop.

"We will rest up here tonight, and we will make better time tomorrow." A dark look filtered into Natsu's eyes.

"Don't you care about how they are getting further away as we speak. Or is he still a traitor in your and Lucy's minds?" Erza recoiled at the low blow, and she heard Lucy gasp. Erza reached up, and slapped Natsu.

"Don't you dare accuse me of not wanting Gray to be returned safely. And I will apologise for my actions against him when he is back, clearly something has been affecting him for a while. But we need to rest. Don't you see that we all need to recharge before continuing?" Natsu seemed to take in the dishevelled, tired look being displayed by Lucy and Happy.

"I'm sorry." Erza accepted the apology, and turned her glare upon Cobra.

"Fine." He ground out.

"Good. Then we will meet in the guild's hall at seven and then we will continue." They all nodded their assent and, after having a brief meal, they retired to the rooms that they had been offered. The guild had provided them all with an individual room.

Natsu hoped that Cobra had been picking up on his thoughts. He stood outside of the guild, twiddling his thumbs, his travel bag resting on the ground behind him.

Natsu hated doing this to his friends, but they just couldn't keep up with the level of speed that was required to catch up to Gray.

He knew that only Cobra could probably keep up with him, they were the most strongly motivated. Lucy, Erza and Happy all wanted to retrieve their friend, but Gray was more then a friend to Natsu. And Midnight was more then a friend to Cobra.

The bonds between the dragon slayers and their friends were infinitely stronger, even if Natsu wasn't certain on why.

His musings were interrupted by Cobra.

"So are we heading of or what?" Admittedly, Natsu hadn't heard Cobra turn up, but he was glad that the mage had picked up on his thoughts.

Together, they could catch up to the others a lot faster. And Natsu was confident in their ability to drag the two home.

* * *

Could Natsu actually be catching on to his feelings? ;) And Midnight and Gray have a bonding moment. See you next time.


	6. Chapter 6

Hello everyone and welcome back to the City without sound. Thank you for all of your faves and reviews.

Dragonlover89 : Oh they will catch up to them eventually, but whether or not they get them back is yet to be seen ;)

IcePrinceRay : We're glad that you enjoyed it, and no spoilers allowed, sorry. And we fangirl whenever we write.

Phineashiccup : Thank you.

.oO : The two had some joint therapy :) And thanks, we wanted to test out some different view points.

Disclaimer : We don't own Fairy Tail. Shucks.

* * *

The light of dawn streaked across the sky as the dragon slayers sprinted onwards. They had stopped for the short total of ten minutes, and Natsu felt as if they were making good time.

The scent of their friends was getting stronger, and Natsu was confident that they were getting closer to their friends, and he tried to shove down the twinge of guilt for leaving their other friends behind.

"You know that it was necessary to leave them behind if we want to catch up?" Cobra obviously overheard his guilty conscience.

"I still feel bad, Fairy Tail mages don't like to leave their friends behind. But Gray..." Natsu trailed off and Cobra gave him a suspicious look.

"Just what exactly is going on with you and that stripper?" Natsu wished that he didn't understand Cobra's question. Truthfully, Natsu had no idea what he was feeling towards his rival. He just knew that it was more intense then his fire, more intense then his feelings for anyone else.

"I feel like that about Midnight." Natsu snapped his head towards Cobra as he ran. A faint blush tinged the poison dragon slayer's cheeks, and Natsu quickly glanced away, feeling a blush also stain his cheeks for unknown reasons.

And then he ran into a branch. Cobra cackled. Natsu glared at the smirking mage.

"Shaddup!" He grumbled, hauling himself to his feet and ignoring the other mages proffered hand. They continued running.

"THOSE IDIOTS!" Lucy shivered as lightning crackled ominously in the background. Erza was not impressed. Not impressed at all. And neither was she.

They had retrieved a second map from the guild and started after the now four errant mages.

Lucy was steaming. Why couldn't Natsu accept that they wanted Gray back as much as he did? The remaining trio had met up at seven like promised, only to find that Natsu and Cobra hadn't turned up. Lucy had thought that it was odd that the two who wanted to travel the fastest were taking the longest to join the group.

Erza had went to check up on them, and had returned a few minutes later, a stony look on her face. Lucy and Happy had caught on instantly, and they had gone to the guild master to request a new map.

The man had wisely refused to question the need for another map, but Lucy heard him whispering to one of his members about what they could have possibly done with the other map, used it to wipe up coffee or something?

They had ventured out, and now they were even more determined then before. Now they had to punish Cobra and Natsu as well as catching up to Midnight and Gray.

Midnight and Gray had started to pack up their small camp, ready to head out to the city. They were some what well rested despite the fact that they had been on high alert all night.

"We must leave quickly, they could be gaining on us." Gray said as he hoisted his pack over his shoulder.

Midnight followed suit.

"Yeah, and by now the dragon slayers have probably ditched the others who were slowing them down." Midnight stated. Gray blanched.

"Then we'll have to be even quicker if we want to make it to the city before they catch up to us." Gray turned towards the direction that the sense was tugging him towards. They started off, and Midnight gave Gray an almost shy look.

"Can you tell me about your city?" Gray winced, and Midnight backtracked.

"If you find it too painful, then don't bother. It's just... I've never really lived in a city. The tower didn't exactly encourage friendship and when I was with the Seis we didn't really stay in big places. I can't remember where I lived before the tower." Gray appraised him silently for a few minutes, and Midnight was almost certain that the other mage was just going to ignore him, but then Gray sighed.

"It was a great place to live. Snow permanently covered the streets, and on the weekends a market would set up in the main square. They sold practically everything, and it always smelt like a mixture of spices and fruit. There was a small bakery near to my house, and my friend's mother ran it. She made the best brownies and hot chocolate." Gray inhaled softly, and Midnight watched him eagerly as they ran. He'd been hanging on Gray's every last word, trying to imagine the city that Gray was describing. Strangely enough, the scene wasn't that hard to envision. Maybe it was his own sense of longing, or Gray's wistfulness that made it so easy to imagine.

"And she would always sneak extra marshmallows into my cup, and all of the over customers would just pretend to ignore it." Gray barrelled on, and Midnight wondered when was the last time that Gray spoke about what his home was actually like without focusing on it's destruction.

"And the maid would make awesome cookies whenever my parents had to work late."

"Maid?" Gray flushed.

"My parents had good jobs so we were a little rich. Nowhere near as rich as Lucy, but we could afford some house staff."

"Lucy... the blonde haired one?" Gray nodded his affirmative.

"Anyway, every year around the holidays, the town would put a giant Christmas tree in the town centre, and by he next day it would be covered in snow and ornaments. We'd sing carols around it, and my friend would serve hot chocolate with her mum, and they'd put mint or orange in it in celebration of the season." Gray was looking very nostalgic, and this sparked up some sadness in Midnight. He wished that he could remember his home. They travelled well into midday before they even considered taking a break.

Natsu skidded to a stop, and observed his surroundings cautiously.

"They were here." He raked his eyes over the subtle remains of a camp.

"And it wasn't too long ago." A grin practically split Cobra's face in two. They were close. They shared a glance before they increased their speed. They were so close, if they ran even faster then they had been previously, they could catch up today or tomorrow.

Their legs pounded in unison as they dashed onwards. They prayed that they wouldn't be too late, that leaving the others behind was worth it.

Gray felt something shift within him as they carried on. A sense that their journey was drawing to a close, that the real quest begin soon. A shiver, of anticipation or fear, ran through him.

The city without sound. Midnight gulped, and Gray knew that the creepy sensation that they would find only impending doom in the ruins of Gray's home had effected his fellow mage.

Gray was almost certain that they wouldn't be making it out alive. Something was waiting for them, pervading the shadows of the wreckage, and it would seek them out. He could only hope that no one else would be caught in the crossfire.

They halted as the silhouette of destruction appeared on the horizon. They would reach the City without sound within the hour. And then they two would be silenced.

The creature's gaping maw widened even further in a twisted perversion of a smile.

"The brats have arrived." His chuckles one again filled the cavern.

"And when I kill them, the resistance to my power will shatter. This city will truly become the demon's playground.

* * *

We hope that you enjoyed it, and we look forward to next time.


	7. Chapter 7

Hey and welcome to the new chapter of The city without sound. Thanks to everyone who faved or followed.

Dragonlover89 : All shall become clear.

EternalFlame401 : Well here it is hope you like it.

Phineashiccup : Thanks.

HerBrokenSmile : Thank you and here's the update.

Guest : Yup, the creature is sort of freaky :)

Vedra77 : Debería esperar y ver :) Y Fairy Tail no entienda la situación como la mayoria piensan que Gray es un traidor.

Guest : Sorry that it's slightly late, we've been really busy lately.

Disclaimer : We still don't own Fairy tail.

* * *

Gray took a deep, shuddering breath as he and his companion stood at the entrance to the ruin. This was the place where he had lost everyone that he had cared about. It was also the place where he met Ul and Lyon.

Midnight gave him a concerned look, and Gray mentally steeled himself.

"Can you feel it?" Gray nodded, a sick feeling pervaded the air. Something here was very wrong, besides the obvious.

"Come on, it's time to find out what exactly was calling to us." The mages cautiously entered the wreckage.

Gray inhaled a sharp breath of icy air as he observed the destruction for the first time since he was a kid. He could recognise almost every ruined building, every snow covered memory of days long gone.

Midnight gave him a few seconds, and Gray was immensely grateful to the other mage for allowing him the moment to gather his composure.

Once Gray felt prepared, the two mages continued, venturing further and further into the desolate city.

Eventually, they reached the un-beating heart of the city.

"This is the centre." Gray still felt vaguely nostalgic from the reminiscing before, and he could still envision this very scene with a glowing Christmas Tree, and the scent of snow and hot chocolate permeating the air.

It was a nice memory, and Gray tucked it away in the back of his head where he kept all memories to do with his village.

Midnight observed the other mage as he walked slowly up to a stone that lay in the middle of the clearing (that had obviously been knocked off of a nearby building during the attack), and wiped of the layer of snow that rested on top of it.

Suddenly, he noticed something flash past out of the corner of his eye.

"There's something else here!" Midnight hissed, and his companion snapped out of his state of remembrance. Just in time for another dark shape to appear at the edge of Midnight's field of perception.

The mages scoped out the perimeter but both of the dark figures had disappeared.

"What do you think that was?" Gray asked.

"Probably whatever was summoning us here." Midnight heard a dark chuckle from behind him, and span around. He came face to face with a glowing man. A man who had blood trickling from his nose, mouth and eyes. The blood was obscuring the man's features, so it was hard to grasp what he actually looked like.

"WHAT!" Midnight shrieked, leaping back from the glowing figure. Gray moved to stand next to his friend, but whirled round when he heard a noise from behind him. They were now back to back.

Midnight heard his friend's breath catch.

"Atsuko..."

"What?" Midnight kept his gaze on the glowing man in front of him, but he twisted his head slightly so that he could catch a glimpse of what Gray was looking at over his shoulder.

A girl was standing in front of Gray. She looked around eight years old and she was shining in a way that was similar to the man in front of Midnight. Her hair was so dirty and matted with blood and dirt so it was hard to discern what colour it was exactly, but Midnight assumed that it was blonde from the few clean patches. Her brown eyes were dull and empty, possibly due to the bloody wound on her abdomen.

"Atsuko... Atsuko was the friend that I was telling you about before. She died. She died just like that man over there, when Deliora attacked. This is impossible!" Midnight scanned the figure in front of him intently, but he couldn't detect the use of an illusion.

"They aren't illusions."

"That's impossible!" Gray's voice was angry but Midnight knew that it wasn't directed at him. This situation must really be taking it's toll on Gray, after all, they were in his destroyed city with his supposedly dead friend standing in front of him.

"What do we do?" Gray was trembling slightly behind him, they were standing close enough together for Midnight to feel it.

"Gray." The girl's voice was the most alive thing about her.

"Macbeth." Midnight's attention was fully diverted back to the glowing figure in front of him at the use of his real name.

"We have summoned you here so that you can save our city." they spoke in unison. Midnight felt his brow furrow.

"Why me?" The man looked at him mournfully.

"Because you two are the last survivors of this village." Midnight almost choked at that, and Gray also made a noise in shock.

"Wait, what do you mean? I wasn't here during Deliora's attack." The man smiled, though it wasn't a happy look.

"That doesn't make it any less your city. You were born here

and raised within the confines of this city for five years."

"But I don't remember any of this." Midnight felt a strange mixture of emotions churning inside of his gut. If this man wasn't lying... then Midnight had finally found where he belonged. And the place that he belonged was a pile of rubble.

"You were so young when you were taken from us. Plus you were hardly ever in the city, you're parents were often sent abroad due to their work and they brought you along with them most of the time."

"My parents, what happened to my parents? Why did they never rescue me from that place." The man's eyes were filled with regret.

"Your parents died the day you went missing. I'm so sorry Macbeth, but we couldn't find you. There were no clues pointing to where you had been taken. We eventually believed that you had died." Midnight felt a wave of sadness pass over him. His parents were dead, even without the demon's attack he wouldn't have been able to meet them again. He would never know a member of his family.

The shimmering man sighed, and wiped some of the blood and muck off of his face. Midnight started in surprise. The man's face was so like his own, even though there were subtle differences, there was no mistaking that there must have been some relation between them. The man's pained eyes met his again.

"Macbeth, I am... was your uncle." Midnight's knees almost buckled at this revelation.

"So I wasn't technically the sole survivor of the city?" Gray's voice was laced with hope. They had all changed position so that Gray and Midnight were standing together and facing the same way with the ghosts in front of them. The spectres both shook their heads, and Gray smiled slightly at Midnight.

"It seems that we have more in common then I thought." Midnight nodded numbly.

"Any way, whilst we both wish to catch you up on the past, the future is much more concerning right now." Atsuko's eyes bored into the boys who both shifted uncomfortably.

"Why, what is going on here?" Gray asked worriedly.

"A demon is rising."

Natsu came to an abrupt halt, breathing heavily and observed the hulking ruin in front of him. His companion did the same.

"So this is Gray's old city..." Natsu trailed off as a weird smell filtered into his nose. His eyes widened.

"That smells familiar." Natsu exchanged a wary glance as they cautiously entered the destroyed remains of Gray's old home. For a few minutes, the dragon slayers were lost, the unknown scent overpowering the traces of their friends.

They inhaled deeply, and once they had relocated their trail, they continued making their way throughout the city, displaying more caution then Natsu knew he was capable of.

Eventually they stumbled across a clearing. They gasped at what they saw.

Gray and Midnght were standing together and glowing faintly, their faces scrunched up in pain. As they watched in horror, tears trickled down the other mages' faces.

Standing a short distance away were two spectral figures, injuries and blood clearly displayed on their figures. Their hands pointed towards their friends.

Natsu howled in anger, and prepared to launch himself at the cause of Gray's pain. A barrier sprang up in front of them, and the spectral man shot him an dark glare.

"Do not interfere dragon slayers." He hissed in warning, and Natsu's fists clenched as the light around Gray and Midnight intensified, causing the mages to scream out and collapse to their knees.

Cobra beside him snarled as they pounded on the barrier. The few minutes spent like that could have equalled an eternity.

When it was over, Gray and Midnight were on their knees in the snow, grunting painfully. The barrier dropped and the slayers darted towards their prostrate friends.

Gray whimpered softly as Natsu pulled him into his arms.

"What the hell do you think your playing at?" Natsu growled, but the ghostly figures had disappeared.

Midnight and Gray coughed and rasped painfully, but then Gray looked up at Natsu.

"We can explain what just happened." Nasu and Cobra propped their friends up as Gray explained what had just occurred.

Just before Natsu and Cobra had arrived, Gray and Midnight stood frozen in horror at the words that Atsuko had just uttered.

"A demon... no Deliora is gone." Gray's eyes were wide in fear.

"It isn't Deliora. This demon is like a sibling of Deliora's, it's from the same monstrous family but it's powers are even more despicable." Dread filled Gray at that comment. A demon that's powers were worse than Deliora's. A demon like that could bring an end to everything.

"What is the demon's power?" Midnight also sounded deeply disturbed at the thought of such a powerful existence.

"It is the lord of the dead." Midnight's uncle sounded completely solemn.

"He plans to use the spirits within this town to bring forth an apocalypse. The dead of this town are full of resentment and rage due to their unnatural end at the hands of this demon's brother and thus they can be easily manipulated. However, there is one flaw to the demon's plan."

"Two flaws actually." Atsuko grinned.

"Yes. The demon needs every soul from this city to achieve full power and ascend. We believe that his powers are tied to Deliora's. Deliora destroys cities being ruin and death, and then his brother rises using the resentment of the lost souls."

Atsuko took over the explanation again.

"But there seems to be a catch to this power. Every soul needs to be collected otherwise the town can still hope. Thus you are the demon's greatest weakness."

"Wait, but if we are here now, doesn't that make it easier for the demon to ascend. All he needs to do is kill us." Atsuko and Midnight's uncle exchanged wary glances.

"That is true, however you are the only ones who can possibly defeat the demon. Not even the puppet slayer... never mind. Your strong ties to the city mean that only you two can weather the attacks of the spirits."

"Strong ties? I didn't even know that this was my village until a few moments ago."

"And aren't the spirits on our side anyway?" Gray and Midnight glared at the ghosts before them.

"Despite the fact that you were unaware of where your home city was, you still longed for it. That need for a home is a strong tie, whether you wish to acknowledge this fact or not. And the spirits are all under the control of the demon, except for a small few. Even we are under the command of the demon lord." Gray and Midnight instantly went on the defensive.

Atsuko chuckled desolately.

"Not at this moment, though he does call for our attention. We are free for this brief period of time due to the intervention of one of the resisters. He gave us strict instructions to gift you with magic strong enough to take down this high powered demon. As soon as we have fulfilled that purpose, we will return to the side of the demon."

"Hey, if this man had such power, why did he not take down the demon himself?" Gray questioned heatedly.

"For even he answers to the call of another. A servant of the demons, gifted with a small amount of power over the dead. A necromancer if you will." Gray shuddered.

"So one of the dead members of this city is being controlled by a necromancer, and the others are being controlled by the demon itself?" Midnight considered this with a deep feeling of unease.

"Three souls are currently resisting the influence under their own accord. Three souls who believe in you greatly."

"Who?" Both mages were intrigued, but Atsuko bought her finger to her lip with a cheeky wink.

"That's a secret for now."

"Why? Shouldn't we know who our allies are?" Gray was annoyed.

"Because you would put them in grave danger if you looked to them for aid." The boys were prepared to question the ghosts further, but then both of the ghosts faces creased with pain.

"Time is scarce, we need to gift you with your new powers before the demon whips up his army against us. I presume that the only reason for his current delay is that he doesn't see you as a threat." Midnight's uncle walked forwards.

"Are you prepared, the gifting of this magic will hurt as we are not trained mages?" The boys glanced at each other before nodding resolutely. This was their city, even if Midnight didn't remember it, and they couldn't let their people suffer at the hands of yet another demon.

"Then you shall be demon slayers." Were Atsuko's final words before the boys were barraged by agony.

Natsu and Cobra stared at their friends in shock.

"So you now possess demon slayer magic?" Cobra's voice was hoarse as they finally noticed the marks on Gray and Midnight's wrists.

"Yes. We now possess the magic required to destroy this demon and free the people of our city."

* * *

So Midnight and Gray are now demon slayers and they now know why they are needed for this quest. Let's see how they'll cope with fighting the ghosts of their pasts. Literally.


	8. Chapter 8

Hello and welcome to the new chapter of The City without sound. And has anyone seen the latest episode? Why are Midnight's eyes no longer red? Kisshufan4ever is not a happy bunny over this.

Dragonlover89 : Hopefully those new questions will be answered... eventually ;)

Vedra77 : We're glad that you liked it and we are looking forward to playing around with these new powers.

AsDarknessSpreads : This story is set just after the Daphne arc, so Gray wasn't already a demon slayer. This will be explained.

IcePrinceRay : Wow, we're happy that you enjoyed the revelations. And it is going to get even more intense from now on.

.oO : You're very welcome for the update, and thank you for the review.

Disclaimer : Yeah, if we owned Fairy Tail, Midnight's eyes would still be red...

* * *

Erza was still furious at those two idiots. After all, even though he had been reasonably well behaved, Cobra was still a convicted felon and Natsu had just taken off with him like it was nothing.

She knew that Natsu could take care of himself, but he wasn't exactly known for his prowess in thinking, and she wasn't willing to leave the rescue of Gray up to two temperamental dragon slayers.

They had remained mostly silent as they raced after their wayward friends, but Erza could feel the rage bubbling up within her.

And worse still, she didn't know who to direct this rage at.

Was it right to feel anger at Gray for something that was clearly out of his control? Or was it right to feel anger at Natsu and Cobra for running ahead when she knew that they both had an extreme connection to the other mages?

Erza knew the truth. Although she was mad at her two idiot friends and the two Oracion seis members who were also caught up in this mess, she was also mad at herself.

After all, she had believed that Gray was a traitor almost instantly and she hadn't even bothered to stop and think about how out of character such a betrayal was.

Instead she had turned on her first Fairy Tail friend and with a great deal of regret and shame, Erza could recall many other instances where she had been less than fair with her friend.

Indeed, during the Deliora island incident she had ignored his clear signs of mental distress in favour of trying to drag him back to the guild with the others.

Lucy was sending her occasional worried looks, and Erza realised with shock that her cheek was damp with tears. She wiped them away swiftly, and sent Lucy and Happy a glare to threaten them into not mentioning them, but she was surprised when Happy burrowed into her hair.

"I'm scared." The cat whimpered, and Erza raised one hand absent-mindedly to pat him as she ran.

That was another reason to add to her long list of why she needed to beat up the four idiots. Gray for worrying everyone, Natsu for leaving Happy behind, and even though the other two weren't from Fairy Tail, they would be getting a beating for aiding the other two.

She clicked her knuckles menacingly, and she heard Lucy gulp as Happy edged away to latch onto the blonde girl.

Yes, they would all have to be okay so that Erza could get the master to give them _that _punishment. She would arrange something with the prison so that Cobra and Midnight wouldn't be left out of _that _punishment.

The City without sound appeared in the distance, and Erza felt a creepy smile stretch over her face.

"Found you."

Cobra had cradled Midnight's body as the mages had told their story, and he had been hyper aware of the painful shudders that wracked his friend's body as an after effect of being gifted such powerful magic.

But as soon as the tale had been told, both of the new demon slayers had forced themselves out of their friend's arms and stood before them shakily. Cobra's ears twitched as he heard the low growl from Natsu when Gray swayed, his pale features almost camouflaged into the snow. Midnight didn't appear to be much better.

"You need to rest." Gray shot Natsu a disdainful look after the fire mage said this.

"No, we need to learn how to use these new powers before taking on a demon who is using the souls of the people from our city to ascend and cause anarchy!" Gray's voice was hoarse, and Natsu was staring at him, startled at the raw emotion in Gray's voice.

Midnight wordlessly placed his hand on Gray's shoulder in a show of support, and Cobra clenched his teeth together as jealousy sparked within his guts.

And then the two mages stiffened, letting out dull cries of pain before collapsing into the unsullied snow.

Cobra and Natsu surged forwards as their friends plummeted to the ground.

"What happened?" Cobra bit out as he turned Midnight over, trying to keep the cold snow from melting into his friend's clothes. Natsu had dragged Gray onto his lap in a similar way and was desperately searching him for a pulse.

He sighed in relief when he found it, and sat back on his heels, hauling Gray into his arms, bridal style.

"I don't know what happened, but if you don't want Midnight getting sick from the cold then we better find shelter."

"Would you care to explain what is going on here?" Erza's voice caused both Natsu and Cobra to freeze up with guilt.

Their heads jerkily turned to the enraged girls (and Happy). Their eyes all widened when they noticed the state that Gray and Midnight were in. They were shivering in the arms of their respective dragon slayer, despite the fact that Gray should have been impervious to the cold.

"You can explain after we find shelter for those two." The dragon slayers nodded, and Cobra copied Natsu, carrying Midnight bridal style. They both rose, trying not to jostle the unconscious mages in their arms.

Even with all of the care taken, the mages were clearly uncomfortable as they both whined in pain.

Cobra's heart clenched at the sound, and Natsu was cussing himself in his head for causing Gray pain.

The other Fairies sent them concerned glances, and a small part of Cobra that usually remained unacknowledged within his heart felt warmth at the fact that he and Midnight were not overlooked by the Fairies.

He wasn't sure why the Fairies would even care about him and Midnight, after all, the Fairies had only let him tag along because he had important information on their precious Gray.

But something had shifted whilst he had been travelling with Natsu. When the other mage had burst into his cell, he had greeted him like an old friend, and Cobra was starting to realise that maybe having these Fairies wouldn't have been such a bad thing.

He couldn't help but wondering what the Seis would have been like if they had been lucky enough to make it to Fairy Tail like Erza had. Maybe they would have been able to fight alongside these mages as friends, instead of fighting against each other as enemies. He imagined being welcomed back to a noisy hall packed with friends and being congratulated enthusiastically on a job well done. Getting drunk and celebrating in the typical Fairy Tail style. Training with the other dragon slayers as Gray told Midnight stories about their city.

Cobra was snapped out of his reverie as they stopped in front of a relatively intact house.

"We can rest here, and you can fill us in on what's going on." They all crowded through the doorway into the spacious house.

The house was in surprisingly good condition, but the destruction was still evident in some places.

The staircase was one such place as some of the stairs had rotted, leaving occasional gaps where the stairs had fallen into disrepair due to damp.

They traversed them cautiously, careful not to trip and drop their friends.

Erza and Lucy walked ahead, with Happy flying above them. They tested a doorknob gingerly, and the door made an alarming sound as it crumbled. They clambered over the ruined door and observed the room.

It was no good, most of the floor had gave way and collapsed into a room on the ground floor. Mangled furniture was visible in the wreckage, even the glimmering of broken glass from picture frames could be seen, though no pictures had apparently survived.

They made their way further down the hall. The next door opened with a little more ease then the previous one. a partially painted room was revealed, though the colour had dulled with age. What was probably originally a pale blue had became closer to grey in colour.

The furniture was covered in dust sheets, much to the conscious mages' relief. Some of the sheets had paint splattered on them.

A childish scribble adorned one corner of the unfinished wall and Lucy was observing it sadly.

"That poor child..." She put her hand on the wall next to the drawing, and Natsu (mindful of the mage in his arms) joined her.

The picture was crudely drawn, clearly created by a very young child. You could just make out five stick figures roughly etched onto the wall. One tiny figure to represent the child and then four larger figure to represent their parents, and possibly some other family.

The child stick figures hair was a navy blue-black mess, obviously one of the pens had ran out during the drawing process.

"Hey, this bed's okay." Natsu turned to see Erza discarding one of the dust sheets from the bed.

"Woah, it's huge!" Cobra stared down at the bed in amazement. Natsu agreed, the bed did appear a little incongruous with it's surroundings.

"It's big enough for us to lay them both down on it."

"Wait, where going to put them in a bed, _together_?" Natsu stared at his friends as if they were insane, a look that they all mirrored except for Cobra who looked equally horrified at this suggestion.

"Yes, this house is freezing, and although Gray would be all right normally, he is shivering rather worryingly right now. Plus, Midnight probably doesn't have the same resistance to the cold as Gray and so it's probably for the best to let them share body heat." Lucy's voice was matter of fact, but Natsu felt an inkling of annoyance at the thought of Gray sharing a bed with Midnight.

"I could just keep them both war..."

"No!" Erza cut across him, and Natsu stared at her, more then a little offended with how Erza had instantly shot down his suggestion.

"You would be too hot Natsu, you would probably just make it worse." Her words hurt, but Natsu wanted what was best for Gray, and so he gently laid the ice mage under the covers of the bed. Cobra grudgingly did the same, and they both had a similar twinge of anger when the mages curled together, hands that held the demon mark entwined between them.

"How are we going to sleep?" Lucy asked, and Erza's gaze turned thoughtful.

"We'll explore the rest of the house an see if we can find any other suitable sleeping quarters. If we do then we'll use them in shifts, always having at least two people guarding over them." Natsu plonked himself down on the floor next to Gray, causing everyone to turn towards him in confusion.

"Me and Cobra will keep watch while you search." Erza nodded, and Cobra mirrored Natsu on the other side of the bed.

"But when we return, you will tell us what is going on." The dragon slayers gulped as Erza eyed them furiously, before stalking out of the room, Lucy and Happy hot in her heels.

Then Cobra chuckled, as Natsu wondered whether Erza constituted as a demon, and whether meant that it would be okay for Gray and Midnight to slay her with their new slayer magic.

They sat in silence for a few moments, content with watching their friends, but then Natsu's eyes narrowed.

"Have their marks spread?" Cobra leapt up and leant forward, observing the clasped hands. The purplish tint had spread up Midnight's arm slightly so that the band of purple was deeper, and Gray had a matching band of black around his wrist.

"How..." Cobra felt the great desire to rip Midnight's hand out of the ice mage's and to inspect it deeply, but he quelled that desire as he wasn't sure about how much of it was genuine concern and how much of it was envy.

Though why Cobra would be envious just because that damn ice mage was lying next to his Midnight whilst holding hands, he didn't know. Or he did know, but he refused to even think about that.

This situation was strange enough even without Cobra suddenly experiencing an existential crisis.

The other returned to the sight of both Natsu and Cobra hovering over the prone forms of their friend's and glaring at their hands.

"Erm..." Lucy's voice caused them to spring back, a liberal coating of red dusting their cheeks.

"They liiiiiiike them."

"No I don't!" They both shouted, causing Erza to hit them.

"Don't wake them up!" She hissed, and the dragon slayers nodded, rubbing their heads painfully.

After the others got comfortable on the floor (or on Natsu's lap if you were Happy), they informed them on all that had happened up to now.

When they had finished, Lucy was trembling.

"So this house could be haunted!" Her teeth were chattering as she hugged herself, warily checking out the room as if a ghost was just waiting to pop out at them.

Natsu was tempted to spook her, but his guilt from leaving them behind earlier prevented him from doing so.

"I'd assume that all of the spirits are currently with the demon, except for the three resistors and this puppet slayer." Erza shot a perturbed glance at the mages lying in the bed.

"So these marks have spread?" Lucy's fear of ghosts had been replaced by a more serious mindset, and she examined the boys' arms herself.

"They do seem to have spread a little bit." She concluded eventually, biting her lip in distress.

"I wonder what this magic is doing to them, and who is this puppet slayer anyway?" Cobra shrugged in frustration, angry that they didn't know the answers to any of Erza's questions.

All of the mages (exempting the unconscious duo), sat in soundless contemplation, but the silence was broken when Lucy pointed out that it was getting dark.

"We found three other doors on this floor. One wouldn't budge no matter what we did, the ceiling must have collapsed and the debris must be blocking the entrance. But the other two open, yet all of the furniture has rotten away. We did find a cupboard with some spare blankets and things, though they're a little moth eaten." Lucy explained.

"Okay then, you two girls and Happy can take the bedrooms and we'll stay here with them." Erza stare turned harsh.

"You two need to get some rest, we'll watch over them for a while ."

"We'll take first watch." Natsu insisted. They bickered for a few minutes before Cobra sat resolutely next to Midnight. The girls sighed before capitulating, leaving the room.

Happy hovered uncertainly between the door and Natsu.

"Go ahead and sleep, buddy. We'll be fine." Happy deliberated for just a few more seconds, before he flew over to Natsu, hugging him tightly.

"Look after Gray." He mumbled into Natsu's chest.

"I will." Natsu whispered back, patting the exceed's head reassuringly.

Happy then flew after the girls, leaving Natsu and Cobra alone with their sleeping friends.

Everything remained calm for about an hour.

Natsu and Cobra were alerted to a problem when a high pitched keening noise was emitted from Gray's throat.

The pink haired dragon slayer's head whipped towards the bed, and he jumped up in terror when he noticed that Gray's entire arm was black. Midnight's was likewise purple.

Tears were racing down both mages cheeks, and Cobra and Natsu stared at them in despair.

They became thrashing around on the bed, and the dragon slayers tried to restrain their best friends.

"Mummy! Daddy!" Midnight yelled, struggling in Cobra's grip, and as he wiggled the marks spread from his shoulder to splay across is face.

Gray was in a similar state desperately choking a list of names.

"Daddy, mummy, Jun, Kyoko, Atsuko!" He wailed, and Natsu felt his own eyes well up at the childish voice that Gray was using. He didn't sound like Natsu's overly confident rival. He sounded like a frightened child, and it wrenched Natsu's heart. This fear was compounded when Natsu noticed the way the black demon marks were creeping insidiously across Gray's skin.

Lucy, Erza and Happy burst through the door.

"Are they all right?" Lucy inquired in a panicked tone.

"Do they look okay?" Cobra yelled as he practically sat on Midnight. That was when Midnight's magic kicked in, and tossed Cobra onto the floor, face down.

Gray's magic also activated at that moment, freezing Natsu's hand.

Said fire mage drew back with some colourful expletives, trying to melt the ice on his hand, but no matter how high he rocketed his body temperature, his hand remained frozen.

"Natsu look out!" Happy screeched, as the floor collapsed, Natsu's flames had weakened the already slightly unstable floor.

The blue exceed managed to catch him just before he tumbled through the new hole in the floor.

Cobra scrambled back from the bed as the it became encircled by two different types of magic. Dark, shadowy tendrils wrapped around a solid wall of ice, obscuring Gray and Midnight from the group.

The magical aura was terrifying, Gray and Midnight had been powerful before, but this was on a whole new level.

Then, as abruptly as the magic had flared up, the barrier fell.

Standing on the bed, where Gray and Midnight. Their bodies had been completely taken over by the marks. Their eyes had also changed. Gray's eyes were a stormy and tumultuous black. Midnight's were a sickly, glowing purple.

Their expressions were blank as they delivered a chilling message.

"You're in our way."

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Yay, angst and demonic Gray and Midnight. We'll see you next time :)


	9. Chapter 9

We'd say sorry for the cliffhanger, but we really enjoyed it ;) Now Gray and Midnight's demon powers have kicked in and the others have to snap them out of it.

Dragonlover89 : They're are adorable when they're jealous. And all will be revealed, though you'll have to be patient...

AsDarknessSpreads : Hehe, you're close with your guess. And Gray was saying a list of names. Jun, Kyoko and Atsuko.

Vedra77 : Thank you, and their fighting is going to be a lot more advanced.

Guest : We love cliffhangers and were happy that you enjoyed Erza's P.O.V. About your guess, you'll find out this chapter :)

* * *

Disclaimer : If we owned Fairy Tail then it would be a yaoi. It is not a yaoi.

Natsu felt his horror mounting up as his friend stared at him with cold black eyes, not even a hint of recognition within the ebony depths.

The magical pressure in the room was overwhelming. Natsu had pretty much never felt auras this strong before.

Gray's chilly eyes fixed on his.

"You need to leave this city." His tone held no true inflection, the simple warning holding no signs that Gray was his friend.

And it hurt.

It hurt to see Gray like this.

The demon slayers stepped down gracefully so that they were standing in front of their friends.

Small patches of ice sprang up with every step, as Gray walked forwards to be face to face with Natsu.

Midnight's steps caused shadows to pool around his feet as he moved to stand in front of Cobra.

"Gray..." Natsu desperately scoured his friends face for any sign that the pain in the ass ice block that he was used to was still in there.

"Leave." His friend ordered. Gray and Midnight stared at them, judgingly.

"We aren't leaving you to face this alone." Cobra blurted out, and Midnight and Gray laughed cruelly.

"We aren't alone..."

"...Because we are working together." Rage flared up inside of Natsu. Was Gray choosing Midnight's help over his own?

The demon slayers exchanged a look, and their lips tilted up harshly.

"In fact, you could say that us working together..." Midnight began, moving closer to Gray.

"...Is destiny." Gray looped his arms around Midnight's neck. Cobra hissed, and Natsu snarled.

The girls were muttering behind them, trying to figure out what was causing this bizarre behaviour.

"We are connected in a way that you can never hope to match up to." Gray sneered, pulling Midnight closer so that their bodies were flush together.

"We're the last survivors of this village..."

"...The only souls to survive..."

"...So I guess that you could say that we're..."

"...Soul mates!" They finished this speech together. Natsu's body was instantly engulfed in flames, though his hand remained encased in ice.

Blood splattered onto the rotten floorboards as Cobra unconsciously activated some of his magic and his nails grew into claws, digging into the soft skin of his palms.

"WHAT!" Lucy almost choked at those words. Erza had summoned a sword, and her grip tightened on it.

Even Happy had realised the gravity of the situation as he didn't make a pun about them liiiiiiking each other.

"What the hell are you babbling on about?" Natsu knew that his voice was dangerous, but seeing this demonic version of his friend wrapped around Midnight triggered dark and possessive feelings in Natsu.

Gray was **his **rival, **his **guild mate and **his **best friend.

From the angry growls that Cobra was emitting, Natsu knew that he was thinking similar things about Midnight.

"Why do you have a problem with that? It's not like we're dating or anything." Gray's tone was mocking as he hugged Midnight. Midnight wrapped his arms around Gray's waist and pressed himself even closer to Gray.

"Midnight..." Cobra's voice was broken, and sad, his face a mask of confusion.

Natsu took a shaky breath. He was pissed, but if he didn't control himself soon then he would collapse even more of the floor. His flames died down slowly, but it was an immense struggle, especially with Midnight's arms draped over the waist of **his** best friend.

"Gray, we're your guild mates. We're your friends. We've been partners on so many missions. Why wont you accept our help?"

"All we need is each other." Midnight's voice was spiteful, and Cobra flinched.

"Yeah, you are nothing to us." Natsu felt the same way as he had when Igneel had disappeared on him, someone immensely important to him was giving him up like he was nothing.

He clenched his teeth in an attempt to refrain from punching Gray's lights out.

And then something even worse happened.

One of Gray's hands moved from Midnight's shoulders, tilting his head up gently. Midnight gazed into his eyes before their lips met in a gentle kiss.

Time seemed to stop as the demon slayers embraced, lips joined together.

Natsu felt as if the ground had fallen out from underneath him again.

Cobra was spluttering whereas the girls were shrieking. Happy was wide eyed, gaze moving between the lip locking mages and the dragon slayers, worry apparent on his face.

They drew back from the kiss after an eternity of hell. Their eyes were satisfied, and they glanced at the shell shocked mages.

"We only need each other." Gray repeated Midnight's sentiment from before. Midnight giggled eerily.

"So don't bother coming after us again." The space around them rippled and distorted, and they vanished in a glow of purple.

Natsu and Cobra both sank to the floor. Natsu buried his face into his hands, in shock. Tears shone in Cobra's eyes.

Lucy watched the two boys crumple to the ground with muted horror.

She couldn't wrap her head around the fact that Gray and Midnight had just kissed. To be honest, she had always thought that there was something... strange about Gray and Natsu's relationship, and Cobra had seemed to be the same way with Midnight.

Lucy scrambled to find an explanation for this behaviour. Could their new demon slaying magic have really warped their personalities this much?

And then it clicked.

This magic had been gifted to Gray and Midnight to save this city, and only those two had been figured in as part of this plan.

From what she could deduce, the spirits of the town had tried to separate Gray from the guild with the whole Daphne episode. Midnight's guild being incarcerated had been a lucky coincidence.

But they hadn't given up on their friends, and the spirits hadn't really expected them to follow them.

So they had devised a new way to try and prevent other people from interfering. They had targeted Natsu and Cobra, the two who had been most dedicated to pursuing their friends by forcing Gray and Midnight to act like that.

But that wouldn't work unless... Lucy glanced at the two dragon slayers. Cobra was crying softly on the floor whilst Natsu looked as if his world had shattered.

If the situation hadn't have been so dire right now, Lucy would have squealed at this confirmation.

And her theory didn't work exactly, that mysterious woman had helped them to find the city so she obviously wanted them to help Gray and Midnight.

But who else could be manipulating Gray and ...

"Guys, we have to find them, now!" Her voice was alarmed, and Cobra nodded, wiping the tears off his face as he stood up. But Natsu shook his head.

"Natsu?" Erza's tone was inquisitive and the fire dragon slayer's head whipped up so that his angry eyes met hers.

"Screw him." Lucy gasped at Natsu's harsh words. She had never seen Natsu give up on anybody, ever, much less **Gray**.

Natsu's entire countenance was angry and hurt. Lucy realised that Natsu hated being abandoned more then anything, and it looked as if Gray had just left him.

He evidently hadn't caught on to what was happening.

"The demon's controlling them!" Lucy exclaimed, and all eyes flicked towards her. Erza nodded thoughtfully.

"That makes sense. As demon slayers, they are technically host to a low level demon, or at least they become a somewhat demonic entity similar to the dragonification. As they are new to this magic, the demon might be manipulating them."

"You are correct, young mages." Everyone jumped and turned to see the same woman from the woods hovering in front of them.

"The children are vulnerable to the demon's presence right now, their magic is new and volatile. When they learn to control their new powers, they will be a formidable foe for the demon, but at the moment they are easy prey. The demon sought to upset you, to push you away from your friends so that they had no hope of regaining their senses. However, the demon was not able to completely control the boys and he spirited them away to a place where his spirits can lead them to him."

"So... that wasn't really how they felt?" Natsu's tone was hopeful, but it also held guilt. Lucy knew that he was regretting his words from earlier.

"No, in fact, it was far from how they feel about each other." The words "each other" were said with a knowing smile.

"Dragon slayers." Cobra and Natsu snapped to attention. The lady drifted to a halt in front of them, and her ghostly hand floated over Natsu's frozen arm. The ice disappeared.

"You may be the only hope to wake your friends before the demon claims their souls. Good luck." She shimmered out of existence, but Lucy observed the woman mournfully looking at the scribbled picture on the wall before she faded.

They stood for a few minutes, before Happy piped up.

"Guys, we need to go."

This prompted the mages to exit the house. The two dragon slayers were trying to locate the mages scent. Luckily, they caught it quite quickly this time, and they were soon racing in the direction of their errant friends.

They tore through the abandoned streets, knowing that this mission could not be failed. Not just for the safety of their friends, but also for the sake of their entire country. Because if the demon rose, no place would be truly safe.

They arrived, breathless to see Midnight and Gray's limp bodies being dragged by a collection of spectres.

Their friends' eyes were open, but glazed. That was until their captures noticed the arrival of the group.

Lucy gulped as the evil tint returned to the demonic eyes, and their friends stood.

"It looks as if they didn't understand our message." Midnight folded his arms, fake disappointment displayed on his face. Gray tsked, shaking his head.

"Looks like we'll just have to drive the point home." His hands glowed with magic, and Erza shouted that they shouldn't let the ice touch them.

Lucy remembered the way that the frost had remained on Natsu's arm despite his flames, and she jumped back to avoid letting the cold magic touch her skin.

Unfortunately, she had forgotten Midnight, and the illusion mage teleported behind her, kicking her to the ground mid leap.

Lucy crashed to the floor, her head bouncing of the ground. Her vision went black.

Natsu howled when Lucy was taken down, and Erza clenched her sword.

"I'm sorry." She muttered under her breathe, before lunging towards Gray, sword outstretched. Gray turned to her and made no effort to move away from the weapon.

It was to late for Erza to adjust her swing, she had anticipated Gray dodging the sword.

The sword slid into Gray's stomach.

A great crack was heard, and Erza jolted away from the weapon as the sword froze inside of Gray's gut.

"Got you." Erza turned, but it was too late. Gray was behind her, ice cannon at the ready. She managed to evade the projectile weapon but Gray's icy laugh caused her to freeze momentarily.

A fatal mistake. Erza's last moment of awareness had her looking up as a giant ice hammer fell from above.

Happy flew towards Gray bravely, hoping that maybe he could wake the ice mage up. His tail was suddenly grasped, and he was flung into a wall by a smirking Midnight.

Now only the slayers remained.

Midnight teleported so that he was standing next to Gray again.

"Pathetic." He sneered.

"We didn't even have to use our new powers to take them down." Gray chuckled.

"No, but you're a different story." Midnight watched them curiously, as if they were interesting specimens to be dissected.

"You might actually be a challenge."

The battle between the demon slayers and the dragon slayers commenced.

* * *

Naughty Gray and Midnight, upsetting their dragon slayers like that. The other boys will just have to knock some sense into them.


	10. Chapter 10

Hehe, we got some relatively mixed responses to that last chapter :) We hope that you can all enjoy this one.

AsDarknessSpreads : We've already replied to this review :)

Otakulover4evr : You're very welcome, and we're really happy that you're enjoying it. And Gratsu is Mewsugarpudd's otp whilst Midco is Kisshufan4ever's.

Dragonlover89 : Yep they definitely have more of a brotherly bond. But it's always fun to write something a little shocking. And we know that Erza was taken down quite quickly, but she still felt incredibly guilty about wronging Gray, so she held back and got distracted at a fatal moment.

.oO : Possessive Natsu is always fun. And you'll just have to wait and see what happens.

* * *

Disclaimer : Yeah, we still don't own Fairy Tail. We can't fathom why.

Natsu and Cobra lunged forwards, attacks at the ready, when the two mages disappeared, bathed in the purple glow of Midnight's magic.

Coming to an abrupt halt, the two mages surveyed their surroundings looking for the others.

"Keep an eye out, they could be anywhere." Cobra ordered.

Natsu's caught a glimpse of a shining light that was similar to Gray's magic circle, and his eyes locked onto that area.

That's why he was shocked to have Gray in front of him in an instant, an icy fist forcing the air out of his lungs.

Cobra had been assaulted in a similar way.

"Midnight can create illusions!" He gasped, and Midnight's mocking voice rang out.

"Don't ruin all of my surprises Cobra." The demon slayers shimmered into existence and Natsu sent a bolt of flames towards them.

The space around the two rippled and distorted, and a fist once again forced its way into Natsu's gut.

He coughed and wiped his mouth as the sound of the demon slayer's laughter echoed off of the destroyed buildings.

"Damn!" He cursed. How was he meant to figure out what as an illusion and what was real.

Cobra was facing a similar struggle, futilely attempting to reach his friend's thoughts. Nothing but static greeted him.

Both dragon slayers were alarmed to notice that a thin layer of frost was creeping over their frozen friends.

So far, Gray had refrained from using his ice magic during this fight, and Natsu realised with horror that if Gray managed to freeze any part of his body then it would remain frozen. His flame wouldn't melt the ice, and he would be severely incapacitated.

"Boo." Natsu jumped as an icy breath drifted over his neck. He leapt away from Gray whose black eyes were dancing with amusement.

Ice slowly crept along the floor between them, and Natsu backed away.

His back collided with someone else, and he span round, coming face to face with Midnight.

He swung his fist out, flames swirling around his fingers.

It connected, almost knocking the other mage over.

But Midnight suddenly morphed into Cobra, not before Cobra had retaliated with a kick to the chin.

They stared at each other for a moment, and they both clenched their fists when they realised that they had once again fell for an illusion.

"What are we going to do?" Cobra's tone was frustrated. Natsu could sympathise.

A fist was suddenly launched at his face, and Natsu caught it instinctively. Gray's eyes widened as Natsu grasped his arm.

"Natsu..." His voice was quiet, but it was unmistakeably Gray's true voice.

Natsu's face crumpled into a relieved smile, but then he was punched to the ground harshly and a foot was grinding into his back.

Gray laughed demonically.

"Is that what you want me to sound like? Poor little Gray needing big strong Natsu to rescue him." Natsu felt a furious wave of fire bubbling in his stomach, and he span around swiftly, grabbing Gray's foot.

The other teen raised an eyebrow sardonically, and Natsu had to pull his fingers back to avoid a severe case of frostbite.

Natsu rose slowly, and Gray stayed in front of him, barely concealing his dark amusement.

And then Natsu was crashing their lips together.

He didn't know why he was kissing his friend, but the burning fury in his gut was telling him that this is what he should be doing, that Gray should know that his place was beside Natsu.

Gray kicked him away, eyes wide, but Natsu still felt a smirk grow on his face.

"Didn't expect that, did you, you bastard."

Midnight's affronted face appeared before Natsu, and his mouth opened slightly as if he was about to lecture Natsu for defiling Gray, but then Cobra grabbed his collar.

"Maybe this will snap you out of it." He muttered, before his lips connected with Midnight's. His mind made a brief connection, and he could have cried with relief.

Then, it was as if the reality around them shattered, revealing both Midnight and Gray standing far away from them, both lightly touching their lips, despite the fact that the kiss had apparently been fake. Cobra realised that the connection with Midnight's mind had come from further away, it wasn't from right in front of him.

The demon slayers' eyes were shocked as they gazed over at Cobra and Natsu.

"Natsu..."

"Cobra..."

Realisation sparked on both of their faces. Their demon marks gradually receded, and they were replaced by faint dustings of red.

An awkward silence descended on the group as they all tried to digest what had just happened.

The spirits obviously realised that that plan had failed and that the demon slayers were not going to destroy their friends, and they chose that moment to attack.

They all diverted their attention into battling the spirits, and Natsu was relieved to notice the frost disappearing from the others' bodies.

The tension still hung over them even as they fought.

Now that the heat of the moment had passed, Natsu was utterly bewildered, and a little ashamed of kissing Gray.

Had he taken advantage of the ice mage?

They were currently back to back, fighting a seemingly overwhelming number of spirits.

They worked in tandem with the Oracion Seis duo, slashing down ghosts left and right.

But occasionally, Gray would flinch, seemingly recognising a face.

Natsu's heart ached for his friend, this entire situation was horrible.

And then the spirits were gone, and they were left panting.

"Was that it?" Cobra asked, and Gray shook his head.

"That was only a sample, the demon only sent a small force of spirits as he didn't expect any resistance." Suddenly, Erza groaned and Natsu raced over to help her up. Lucy and Happy also showed signs of waking.

"What happened?" Lucy inquired. Erza looked humiliated, but relief was also visible when she noticed Gray and Midnight's normal appearances.

All of the slayers bushed furiously as they remembered the kisses that never actually occurred.

"Cobra and Natsu managed to snap us out of it."

"How?" Lucy looked suspicious.

"Does it really matter? Midnight and Gray are okay now, so we can all go and fight the demon. Hopefully we can end this soon." Just as Cobra said this, a strange glowing light filled the city.

When they had blinked the effects of the light away, a normal looking city was revealed.

Normal, that is, if you ignored the pale, washed out inhabitants.

Gray's face was grave.

"A ghost city to house a ghost army."

"What does it mean?" Lucy's voice was scared. Midnight's gaze was serious.

"It means that the demon has gained more power."

"Why are the ghosts ignoring us if they're under the control of the demon's control?" Erza asked as she observed the spectral figures carrying out menial tasks despite the various wounds that adorned their bodies.

"They obviously aren't strong enough spirits of resentment or people that will affect us massively. The demon doesn't want to waste all of his power on a mass attack if he doesn't have to, the ghostly city is probably just a precaution. He'll be using the spirits that will upset us the most first, and if they fail then he'll probably use a mass attack." They all agreed that this sounded logical, but then they realise that they needed a plan as well.

"Does anyone have any idea where the demon actually is?" Gray and Midnight looked at each other solemnly, before shaking their heads.

"We had a brief feeling that he is underground, but we don't know for certain where he is under the city. And we don't know how to reach him either.

"And you won't get to him either." An ominous voice declared.

All of the mages whirled around to face two women and a child of around four.

Gray and Midnight both gasped.

Gray's eyes were distant whereas Midnight just stared at them in disbelief.

"Jun, Kyoko..." Everyone started at Gray's words, weren't they the names that he had cried out while they were resting in that house?

"You...you..."Midnight's tone was confused as he stared at the small, dark haired child.

"Hello, nii san." The child smiled, blood streaming from a wound on his tiny head.

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Sorry the chapters so short, and for another cliffhanger. We'll see you next time.


	11. Chapter 11

And we're back. So, Natsu and Cobra have came a little closer to realising their feelings, and now more spirits have shown up to hurt the boys. This is going to be fun.

AsDarknessSpreads : Midnight is the nii san. And we're sorry that you don't like OCs, but for this story they're necessary.

Dragonlover89 : Unfortunately, that kiss was just an illusion. And if you're hoping for a happy reunion then you might just be disappointed.

Vedra77 : Don't apologise for not being able to review, we appreciate that you've reviewed the past chapters and you shouldn't have to feel pressured into reviewing. And we're glad that you like it. And you will find out all answers soon.

Guest : Hehe, you'll be getting the answers to your questions this chapter.

Otakulover4evr : Sadly, they only kissed an illusion. And the people will be revealed this chapter.

Shiroyamimaru : Thanks, and Midco is Kisshufan4ever's favourite pairing in Fairy tail.

Disclaimer : We still don't own Fairy Tail. You should probably be grateful for this.

Midnight stepped away from the child, jaw hanging open in shock. That's when the memories assaulted him.

_He watched in an engaged manner as a younger version of himself held a tiny wailing child in his arms._

_Panic filled his eyes._

"_What do I do? What do I do?" The child version of himself rasped, a version of himself that only seemed to be five years of age._

_Two adults stood nearby, gazing at the boys fondly. The woman smiled as she took back the infant, rocking him slowly. _

_The memory then flicked to another of him showing off his favourite toys to the infant. The child seemed particularly interested in an old stuffed bear. _

_Midnight - no - Macbeth looked at the teddy, then his brother and then back again._

_Then, hesitantly, he thrust the toy into his little brother's arms. _

_The baby's face lit up with joy, and he gurgled merrily. He smiled and continued to play with the rest of his toys. _

_The scene changed again, and with it the mood altered drastically. _

_His uncle was holding his sweet baby brother, Aito, and he was kneeling down so that Midnight could say goodbye to his younger sibling._

_Midnight remembered that his parents had loathed to leave the baby behind, but they had to travel for a short while to fulfil a task for their boss._

_Their boss had regretted sending them away on business due to their newest arrival, but his parents were some of the best workers and they were needed to seal this deal. _

_They were watching the boys parting from the carriage that had been hired for this trip._

_Macbeth leaned in and kissed his little brother's forehead gently._

_His uncle ruffled his hair softly as Midnight whispered in his little brother's ear._

"_We'll be back soon, Aito. Wait for me and I'll teach you how to play some awesome games soon. See you in a few weeks. Love you." He then hugged his uncle goodbye and raced over to his parents. _

_And the carriage trundled away, allowing Macbeth to see his Uncle and younger sibling alive one last time._

_Midnight remembered daydreaming about what Aito would be like when he was older._

_He would look a little bit like Midnight and he would be the best playmate ever._

_Midnight had never gotten the opportunity to find out if his predictions would have came true as he was captured on the way home. That was when Macbeth had lost all memories except for his name. His little brother was wiped from his memories as easily and completely as his life had been wiped away from the face of the Earth._

_The very last memory to come flooding back, was of Macbeth clutching the bars of a cage and weeping for a family that he couldn't remember. Then, one hand subconsciously reached out, as if to grasp the hand of another boy._

_A boy that would die in a horrifying demon attack three years after Macbeth was captured, though Macbeth would remain painfully unaware of the fact that his precious baby brother and his loving uncle were deceased for another ten years._

Tears streamed down Midnight's cheeks as the perfect vision that he had had as a child of an older version of his younger brother was marred by the bloody trail that streaked across the spirit's face.

The insane grin also ruined the image somewhat.

"Bet you didn't think you'd see me all grown up? After all you never bothered to return to me, you got yourself captured. WE THOUGHT YOU WERE DEAD!" Anger radiated from the tiny child, and Midnight wanted to bury himself in a hole, to turn away and never face this angry, twisted **dead **version of his beautiful little brother.

But he couldn't leave. That was just what the demon wanted.

And Midnight would never give in to the demon whose demonic family member had killed Midnight's own brother.

Gray also appeared to be caught up in memories, as his eyes were misted over.

But Midnight could barely tear his gaze from the broken shadow of his sibling.

His little brother had died an agonising and terrifying death, yet Midnight probably would have never remembered him if it wasn't for this quest.

"I used to look at pictures of you and mum and dad. I used to hug that stupid bear that you had left me. And I foolishly used to hope that one day you would all come back to me. Mum and dad wouldn't be gone forever, and you would teach me things like the other kid's older brothers. But that never happened. And I hate you!" The last line was hissed as his brother crossed the distance between them with a strange blur like motion, and the crazed eyes of the dead child stared into his.

And then Midnight was coughing up blood as a knife lodged itself into his stomach.

His brother's spirit danced away, spattered by Midnight's blood. Evidently his magic was still settling down from that whole demonic takeover.

Cobra snapped into action, pulling Midnight back to observe the wound, but Midnight shook him of brusquely.

There were more important things to deal with right now. His crippling emotional agony was way more debilitating then this wound could ever be.

Gray was being battered by his own storm of painful feelings.

His old nanny and maid were standing in front of him, bloody and bruised.

He could remember them vividly.

"_Gray sama, come inside right now or you'll get a cold!" Kyoko's scolding voice was laced with fondness and Gray ran into her arms snickering. _

_Snow lightly dusted his raven locks and his cheeks were flushed with both cold and happiness._

"_We've just made a brilliant snowman." This Gray was around five and giggles escaped his mouth along with soft pants as his nanny shook her head._

"_Let's get you warmed up." She gathered Gray into her arms and carried him into the kitchen where Jun was preparing cookies._

_He also remembered a time when he was just four were his parents had to stay late at work and his maid and his nanny had taken his mind off of his missing parents with numerous stories and fun games. _

_The two had been like aunts to Gray, more like family than staff to his child self._

_Gray had many memories of their warm arms wrapped around him or their soothing voices singing with him. They had patted down plasters over small cuts and kissed bruises. _

_He had loved them and yet he had watched them both die._

_He could still remember the way Jun had thrown herself in front of him, taking the hit that was meant to kill him and how Kyoko had yelled at him to run as the demon crushed her under foot._

Gray was faintly aware of Midnight being stabbed, of the tears running down his friend's cheeks, but Gray's own vision was distorted by tears and he wasn't sure how to deal with this situation at all.

He didn't know how to help Midnight when he was so torn up himself.

Cobra wanted to help Midnight desperately, wanted to tug him into the safety of his arms and shield him from the horrors of his past. He also wanted to tend to that wound, but Midnight was shrugging off all of his attempts to help.

The corrupted spirit of Midnight's dead kid brother was cackling madly, the signs of the demon's possession evident in his eyes.

For the first time since this whole mess had started, Midnight's thoughts were crystal clear to Cobra.

A fact that he couldn't rejoice seeing as his friend was suffering. Badly.

Out of the corner of his eye he noticed Gray lunging into battle with an expression on his face that chilled Cobra. But Natsu could deal with that problem, Cobra had to focus on Midnight.

Cobra watched despondently as Midnight pleaded with his little brother to try and break him out of the demon's grasp.

Then both mages stiffened as a voice was heard in Midnight's head and echoed in Cobra's.

"The only way to save him from the demon's grip is to defeat him in battle." A female spoke directly into Midnight's mind and by extension Cobra's.

"No." Midnight moaned hoarsely as blood sluggishly dripped from his wound.

Aito took this opportunity to attack.

The blade flashed, but Midnight's magic finally kicked in, reflecting the attack around him. But Midnight still made no attempt to move away from where he was standing even as attack after attack were diverted by his magic.

Midnight still refrained from making a move to attack, and Cobra wondered if Midnight was still limited to using one type of magic - at this point defensive - at once.

Or was he held back by the fact that his enemy was his little brother?

"Midnight, you have to fight him!" Cobra yelled. The voice had said that defeating the kid would break his soul from the demon's grasp, so Midnight had to fight.

Midnight's tear streaked face turned towards him.

"I can't." His voice was broken, and Cobra was terrified to see him this way.

"Then I'll do it for you." Cobra activated a small portion of his magic, causing his nails to grow into claws.

And then a loud crack echoed as Midnight's hand connected with Cobra's cheek.

Cobra gasped as Midnight's crimson eyes glared at him.

"Don't you dare lay a hand on my brother." Midnight hissed, and Cobra nodded numbly. Midnight had hit him, and demonic influence couldn't be blamed this time.

"I'm sorry." Cobra muttered, allowing his magic to die down and his claws to shrink. He brought his hand up to nurse his injured cheek.

Midnight's eyes widened minutely, and Cobra heard his apology repeated in Midnight's head, and he understood that that was Midnight's way of expressing his own sorrow.

This moment of reconciliation was ended when Cobra felt a blade lodge into the back of his own shoulder.

He yelped in surprise as he felt the blade slide out of his shoulder, the pain increasing as the blade left.

"You're in my way." The voice was whiney, the childish part of the spirit shining through.

Cobra jumped forwards, pushing Midnight to the ground as the blade flashed over their heads.

"Get out of the way!" The child screamed, summoning an unknown power and flinging Cobra out of the way and into a building, causing some of the rubble to fall down on him.

The child flickered over to where Cobra was lying. Smirking he clicked his fingers and the building crumbled around them, smothering Cobra in a layer of dust and debris.

Midnight watched as this scene unfolded in muted horror.

He observed Cobra rising from the rubble just as Aito charged forward, going in for the kill. That was the moment when Midnight formed a barrier in front of his battered comrade Cobra collapsed just minutes after. Midnight realised that he had to fight his brother, not only for his sake but for his comrades as well. Before his brother was well and truly lost to the demon, Midnight had to end this fight.

Sorry this is so late, but we hope that you enjoyed it anyway. See you next time.


	12. Chapter 12

Sup, peeps. We are both incredibly sorry for how long we forced you to wait for this update. Mewsugarpudd was dealing with A levels and moving to uni and Kisshufan4ever was crippled by Gurren Lagann feels. We hope that you'll enjoy this update.

Otakulover4evr : Yep, it was only an illusion ;) But we're glad that you liked it anyway and, once again, we are sorry for the wait.

Guest : It was very lucky that Midnight had his prince in dragon armour to come and save him :)

Vedra77 : Cobra and Natsu are going to try their very best to do the right thing. And we're very glad that you reviewed.

Guest : Unfortunately you did have to wait a while, which we are very sorry about.

Guest : This chapter will include a lot more of those two, so don't worry.

Guest : We're not giving up on this no matter how long it takes us to update. Thank you for your continued support.

NoOne : Trust me, we are not giving up no matter what! Thank you for saying the story is amazing and we hope that you enjoy this update.

Guest : Yeah, we're really sorry about the wait...

Coco : Midco is Kisshufan's fave pairing as well :)

Kasuyorai : Thank you so much for the follow and the compliments. We really appreciate them and we've thankfully found the time to update again.

Guest : We aren't giving up on this story, it's just hard to update whilst Mewsugarpudd is away.

Freedoms wings : Sorry for the long wait :( We will definitely not give up on the story no matter how long it takes to update. Thank you for your encouragement, and we have things planned somewhat planned out, we just have to hope that we get the time to write them.

Guest : Here you go.

Disclaimer : Still not ours. Go figure.

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Gray had launched himself recklessly into battle. Natsu had only caught a quick glimpse of his facial expression, but what he had seen had terrified him. Gray's face was completely blank, void of all emotion. Where he had before been radiating grief and despair, he now emanated an all consuming apathy.

As he witnessed Gray battling clinically against the two women from his past, Midnight and Cobra seemed to be having challenges of their own.

He had to have hope that they would be able to deal with it themselves as he had to aid Gray.

He turned to the other members of his guild, only to see them gazing in horror at the ghost city.

Natsu's eyes followed theirs, and he realised the source of their worry.

More ghosts were heading towards them, though these ghosts seemed to lack personality and their forms weren't as defined as those who were fighting against Gray and Midnight.

Maybe it was because the spirits with a personal connection to the dark haired mages were naturally stronger, maybe the demon was investing more power into them, Natsu didn't know, but either way these ghosts were about to converge on them.

Erza's eyes locked onto his.

"Us three will take care of that horde. You should help Gray." Natsu nodded swiftly, knowing that his fellow Fairy Tail mages could take care of the swarm coming towards them.

Natsu turned back to the combat. He winced as he observed just how beat up Midnight and Cobra were.

Gray himself was obscured from his vision by the icy blue of his magic circles as he attacked relentlessly.

Suddenly, his view was filled with a grinning lady. Gray had mentioned the names before, but Natsu didn't know which was which.

This lady had long brown hair, swept up in a pony tail, and light purple eyes.

Her devious grin widened, and Natsu felt the brush of a knife across his ribs before he leapt back to avoid greater damage.

He put his hand to his chest and looked down at it. Small rivulets of blood dripped from his palm.

"Aw, ruining my fun. I just wanted to slice you up a little, as a fire mage, you look good in red." She winked in a manner that was darkly flirtatious.

Then she was leaping back from an ice attack. Natsu was left staring into the empty eyes of his friend. Like in all other times of distress, Gray's eyes had lightened, though this time they had achieved a shade lighter than Natsu had ever seen before.

"Gray..." He whispered. The eyes didn't even flicker as Gray span back around and recklessly threw himself back into the battle.

Gray had always been an enthusiastic fighter, but he was usually more of a tactician than this. It was Natsu's job to charge in without a plan.

As Gray's attention was currently diverted by the brown haired wraith, the second turned to him.

This woman had spiky blonde hair that just grazed her shoulders and golden eyes.

"You shouldn't be bothering Gray sama right now. He has lessons to attend to." Instead of the knives that the other two ghosts possessed, in her pale hands were gleaming shurikens.

Natsu was forced to flip and cartwheel out of their way as the weapons were thrown in rapid succession. Her supply was seemingly endless.

Flames enveloped his hands, and he pounced towards her, only for her to dissolve and reappear in front of Gray who's face still remained mostly neutral.

There were cracks in the ice mage's facade, however, as lines of tension were appearing by his eyes.

"Stop this, Kyoko!" He yelled, grabbing the blonde's hand. Thin trickles of blood escaped from their linked limbs as Gray had evidently caught a shuriken between them. Natsu's anger rose at the needless damage to the hands used to so carefully craft Gray's magic.

The blonde simply laughed before slashing out with her other hand.

Gray stumbled back, releasing his grip on the spirit as a gash formed just underneath his eye.

The other one - who Natsu now assumed to be Jun - was about to take advantage of this situation when Natsu moved to intercept her.

Her pretty face twisted into a snarl.

"Don't get in my way!" She hollered as she gripped Natsu's wrist, and flung him with demonically augmented strength.

Natsu rolled, and forced his heels beneath him so that he was left in a crouched position. He spat a small amount of blood to the side from where he had bitten the inside of his cheek.

He had landed next to Lucy and he gave the blonde haired celestial spirit user a nod as she directed her whip around a spirit's neck. Loke was powering through the swarm of spectres, light flaring from his fists. Natsu smiled slightly despite the raging battles as he saw the fierce look on Loke's face. Even though he was a celestial spirit, Loke had also been a Fairy Tail mage, one who had been close to Gray before his true nature had been revealed.

Erza was a blur, decked out in her Heaven's wheel armour and furiously sending dozens of blades into the dead citizens around her.

Natsu turned his focus back on Gray's - meaning his and Gray's - battle. The others could take care of themselves, and he was willing to believe that the sheer rage that they were feeling due to Gray's suffering would help them in eliminating their opponents.

The ice devil slayer, on the other hand, would need all the help that he could get, not because he was weak but because he was already in so much pain.

"I didn't want to have to do this but I see now that I have no other choice" Midnight's eyes met with those of his younger brother. He had to protect the poison dragon slayer. Apparently he had failed to protect everything else in his life, he needed to at least keep Cobra safe, the mage who made him feel so much more than he had ever felt before.

Aito darted forwards, sniggering at the distraught, solemn look on Midnight's face.

"What's wrong nii-san, afraid to lose someone else?" Midnight's heart throbbed as his brother's pudgy hand slashed at his face. The illusionist felt no need to dodge, allowing his magic to divert the blade. As his brother was deflected, Midnight sent his first blow of the battle.

It was a weak punch, but enough to move the tiny body away and to show his brother that he was willing to fight him despite his reluctance.

Midnight was grateful for his new powers and for the training that he had underwent with his partner in this quest. He had finally overcame the weakness that had cost him the battle with Titania. Now he could use defensive and offensive moves at once.

His shield was still protecting his nakama from his brother's erratic attacks as Midnight attempted to decide on the best plan to deal with this situation. This is when his new magic manifested itself as an upgraded version of his old abilities.

"Phantom devil slayer's obsidian scythe!" He yelled sending a curved black blade reminiscent of his old invisible scythe at his brother.

The youth dodged, eyes losing the impish glint as he realised that his older brother was actually going to fight him. Eyes a lighter shade than Midnight's ruby orbs locked on to the still form of Cobra, protected by Midnight's magic.

His lip curled in disgust, and Midnight took the opportunity to keep up the offensive.

Aito refocused and attacked again. But Aito wasn't a mage, he wasn't even alive and his powers were not his own. His strength was inconsistent, waning as his brother pressed the attack.

Probably the only reason that the battle wasn't over yet was because Midnight wasn't emotionally prepared to land a killing blow on his little brother.

The dual haired illusion mage landed trivial hits on his sibling, unwilling to use all of the new power humming in his veins.

This lack of commitment gave Aito the opening that he needed. Midnight had been utilising plenty of different attacks, concentrating on channelling small amounts of magic into a variety of moves.

With this lack of attention, his shield grew weaker and weaker, eventually becoming brittle enough for Aito to break through, which he proceeded to do the moment he became close enough.

"Cobra!" Midnight roared as he leapt forwards, but it was too late to prevent the blade from slipping between the dragon slayer's ribs. Arching upwards, the unconscious mage coughed out a spray of blood that splattered over Aito's youthful face.

Knees scraped across the gravel that had been churned up from beneath the snow during the numerous battle that had been (and still were) taking place.

"E..Erik?" Midnight's voice trembled as his hand latched onto the unresponsive dragon slayer's sleeves. Breaths rattled out of his chest, but they were laborious.

Aito giggled, the childish noise incongruous with the sight in front of him. Erik was dying.

"No..." Midnight buried his face in the chest of his best friend, the person that he loved above all else, even over his father.

"I wonder if you would have cried over me like this?" Aito mused, drawing Midnight's attention.

Something dark welled up inside of Midnight, clawing at his sanity. A memory of his fight with Richard danced before his eyes, and his magic activated unconsciously.

"Ugh!"

Cobra's breathing settled, and Midnight's eyes fixed on him in confusion. No more blood flowed from his chest, and when Midnight tentatively removed the sliced fabric, the only evidence of the previously devastating wound was the blood sticking the material to his no longer motionless chest.

Slowly, Midnight raised his gaze to where his brother had been gloating. As if waiting for this undivided attention, the boy collapsed.

A minute passed before Midnight dove towards the slumped form. He could hear Cobra stirring behind him, but right now his priority was his little brother.

Because Midnight had a sinking feeling that he knew what he had done. One of his older abilities had been to reflect injuries at those who caused them, injuries that were inflicted upon him. It had helped him in taking down his powerful nakama, though Midnight still regretted taking things to that extent.

But with this increased magic... his desperation had fuelled his actions and somehow allowed him to transfer Cobra's injuries. His younger brother, the child that he had sworn to protect was limp within his arms, blood sliding down his chest from a knife wound between his ribs. A fatal wound. Midnight could feel the drain of magic, and it occurred to him that in that moment he had reached into his magical container, damaging it in order to save Cobra.

It hurt, and the damage to his magic container could prove difficult in the future. Even with the gift of devil slaying magic, Midnight shouldn't have been able to do what he had just done. If he ever tried something like that again, the backlash from his broken container could kill him.

A gargled noise drew his gaze to the child in his arms as the boy began to cry.

Midnight's arms wrapped tighter around the sobbing form of his young sibling as the demon's influence seeped out of his eyes. One tiny hand reached up to pat his cheek, leaving a sticky hand-print behind.

"I'm sorry nii san. I'm so sorry." Midnight choked back his tears and clutched the little boy to his chest.

"Don't be sorry! It's not your fault. I love you. I'm so sorry. I've failed you so many times. I should have asked mum and dad to let me stay behind with you. I may have been able to keep you safe from the demon" His brother smiled radiantly, and shook his head as the light slowly left his eyes.

His young body began to shimmer and Midnight felt his sobs break free.

"Don't leave me! Please don't leave me. I'll teach you anything you want, I'll look after you properly this time. I'll never abandon you again. Just stay with me." Midnight's anguished sobs punctuated this speech yet his little brother still faded.

"I'll see you again soon nii san. I love you." As Midnight's original parting words from so long ago were repeated by the child, Cobra's hand was placed onto his nakama's shoulder.

The child's body dissolved into nothingness, and Midnight was left clutching a worn old teddy bear.

Midnight's anguish filled the air.

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So I hope this angst-fest was sufficient as an apology for how long it has taken to update this story. We hope that you enjoyed the chapter, and hopefully we will see you all soon.


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